Camp Lakeway
by Munkymuppet
Summary: When the Warden of Camp Lakeway unexpectedly dies of a heart attack the criminal girls are sent to their neighboring camp, Camp Green Lake. But not all of the girls are willing to cope with the boys and soon the members of D tent find themselves on an unf
1. Introduction

Introduction  
  
If you commit a crime, you'll get punished. In the state of Texas there are two different options of punishment for juveniles; jail or a detention camp. There are two different detention camps for juvenile delinquents in the Southern desert of Texas; Camp Greenlake for criminal boys, and Camp Lakeway for criminal girls. Both camps were always miles and miles apart- but not for long.  
  
When the Warden/Owner of Camp Lakeway suddenly dies of a heart attack, the criminal girls must be moved to Camp Greenlake-and you can just guess what sorts of trouble will spark when a bunch of criminal girls are forced to move in with a bunch of criminal boys. But some of the girls of Lakeway aren't as swayed by the boy's looks or pick up lines, and soon some of the girls want out. But this starts a true adventure filled with laughter, peril, and even romance. With a girl crazy criminal, a spunky camp councilor, and a whole lot of juvenile delinquents, the adventure is about to begin.  
  
The arrival of the Lakeway girls starts an unexpected journey for the boys of Greenlake; as they have to learn to deal with a lot of emotion, the absence of water, and girls and all that comes with them. 


	2. Camp Green Lake, Meet Camp Lakeway

"Nine hours. Nine hours!" Magnetic moaned.

"And only three pit stops!" Static complained: she looked as if she were about to burst.

"Would you guys shut the hell up?" Rogue snapped, she looked more pissed off than usual. "It's bad enough without all your god damn complaining!"

Magnetic stuck her tongue out at Rogue, who in return flipped her off.

"Aw, this ain't so bad!" Fidget said, she was frantically wrapping the ends of her braids around her fingers. "Just think about all the hot boys we'll soon be introduced to!"

"Oh Fidget!" Lei said, shaking her head. "No boy at Camp Green Lake is gonna be hotter than Whipped Cream!" 'Whipped Cream', as they called him, had been one of their camp counselors at Camp Lakeway. He had been in his early twenties and just about every girl at Camp Lakeway had had eyes for him. But Whipped Cream, or Ryan, had been fired when Camp Lakeway had been closed down.

"DUH!" No boy will ever be cuter than Whipped Cream!" Magnetic shouted. She was sitting in the front seat of the bus, yelling back at everyone. All seven girls were sitting in a big yellow bus that was taking them across the desert, east, towards Camp Green Lake. The girls had it bad, not only had they been traveling for nine hours in one hundred and forty-two degree weather, but they had also been stuck with the dreaded images of what was to happen when they arrived at Camp Green Lake. At least the girls of D tent had been lucky enough to get their own bus; the other two buses were crammed, each filled with two tents. How miserable.

"Friction is lucky," Lei said, turning in her seat to watch a small truck that followed the bus. "She gets to sit in her nice, air conditioned truck, radio and all."

'Friction', or Sarah, had been another camp counselor at Camp Lakeway. She too was in her early twenties and was loved by a lot of the criminal girls. But unlike Whipped Cream, Friction had offered to come along with all the girls of Lakeway, as Camp Green Lake would probably be overwhelmed with twice as many juvenile delinquents. Friction had been D tent's counselor, and so it was the D tent girls who knew and loved her the best.

"Hey bus driver!" Magnetic shouted—even though she was just a seat away from the tired looking man who sat in the driver's seat. "Can we get some tunes playin' here? Like I'm totally dying of boredom!"

But the bus driver ignored Magnetic, making her spit her chewed gum at him.

Lei shook her head at this, then started singing to herself. She was singing an old Hawaiian song her mother had taught her years and years ago. But Magnetic wasn't into old songs that she couldn't understand, and it made her even more annoyed.

"Hey, Chase is a good singer!" Fidget said, sitting up really fast. She was now fidgeting with some of the bus seat's stuffing that had come exposed.

"Chase is not a good singer!" Magnetic cried with a heartless laugh. "She's not good at anything!"

"She can do anything better than you can!" a girl at the back of the bus cried, standing up at her seat. It was Zippy, the youngest member of D tent. She and Chase were sitting at the back of the bus, their heads had been bent as they had been talking for a long time, ignoring the other girls.

"Phhhhh!" Magnetic spat, glaring at Zippy.

"You even know she's better than you!" Zippy cried defiantly.

"Zippy, zip it!" Chase said, pulling Zippy back down onto the seat. She didn't like it when Zippy—or anyone for that matter—tried sticking up for her.

"Magnetic deserved it!" Zippy said, a big grin spreading across her face. She started bouncing up and down on the seat; she could never sit still for very long. "What if we meet really cute guys at Green Lake?" she said, smiling again.

"What if we don't meet any cute guys at Green Lake?" Chase said sarcastically. "Don't worry, I'll manage to live somehow." Chase had never been too fond of dating or being in relationships. She much preferred being free and independent.

"Sheesh! Why so sour?" Zippy said—it was as if her big grin never left her face. "Be happy! We never have to go back to stupid Lakeway again!"

"Oh goody, I'm so excited," Chase said, looking out the window. "Goodbye Lakeway, hello Green Lake."

"Oh don't worry," Zippy said, standing up again. "Green Lake will be much better than Lakeway! Who knows, you might even make new friends!"

* * *

"I bet they'll be annoying," X-Ray said, glaring at the dirt beneath his feet.

"I bet they'll be hot!" Twitch said, his fingers drumming quickly against the step he was sitting on.

"Yeah, well, whatever they'll be they'll be getting' here real soon," Squid said, looking out at the road that started at Camp Green Lake and disappeared into the haze beyond.

A lot of the boys of Green Lake (all the ones who had finished digging already) were hanging around the porch in front of the Mess Hall, waiting for "the girls", as they called them. The D tent boys; Squid, Zigzag, Twitch, Armpit, X-Ray, Zero, and Magnet, were all standing together, eagerly awaiting the new arrivals.

Suddenly the Warden burst out of her cabin, closely followed by Mr. Sir.

"Where are they?" she snapped at Mr. Pendanski, who had been waiting with the boys. "They're an hour and a half late! Have you got all those extra tents set up? Have you found a lot more jumpsuits? We're gonna need a lot!"

Yes, everything has been taken care of," Mr. Pendanski said, taken aback by the Warden's frantic attitude. Usually she was calm, collected and tough—today she seemed worried and unready.

"Dum dee dum dum," Armpit said; they were all really bored and tired of waiting.

There was silence for a few minutes as everyone watched the road, then—

"There they are!" a boy from B tent shouted out, pointing at three large dust clouds that were gathering speed as they zoomed down the road.

Twitch jumped to his feet, his hands twitching violently with excitement.

"What if they all turn out to be enormously overweight girls who all have head gear and cow bells?" Zigzag said, as the dust clouds slowed down right in front of them.

What happened next almost seemed like a royal ball, only dusty and without any wigs, as one of the male counselors walked up to the first bus and named each girl as they got off. The boys of Green Lake thought that was very bizarre.

The first girl of A tent off the first bus was overweight, but there was no cow bell or head gear to be found. After her though came a rather scrawny girl who looked like she was on a starvation diet. Her matted dark hair and sunken eyes gave her a very sinister look that the Green Lake boys weren't used to.

* * *

"Can you see anyone?" Zippy cried, bouncing around the bus as all the other girls crowded around the windows.

"No, the damn windows are too covered with dust and grime," Magnetic said disappointedly.

"Why can't we get off the bus yet?" Static whined. "I really gotta go! I hope I don't accidentally go in front of the boys!"

"Just whatever you do, don't go now," Magnetic said; she was standing very close to Static.

"Tent B," the male counselor called, finishing up with the first group. So far none of the boys in D tent found any of the A tent girls to be hot—or even very pretty. But when Olivia Danker of B tent stepped off the bus everything changed.

"Wow!" Magnet said, gaping at the girl. She had long legs, tan skin, light brown hair, and beautiful curves.

The D tent boys scowled as a bunch of the B tent boys whistled and hollered.

"Oh goody, they all love Olivia!" Lei said darkly, pressing her ear against the window so she could hear what was going on.

"Well, all that will change when I step off the bus," Magnetic said, flipping her hair away from her face. "That damn Olivia doesn't have anything over me!"

"I think it will change their minds when Lei steps off the bus," Fidget said. She was now fidgeting with Lei's beautiful long hair, but Lei didn't mind: All of the girls—except Rogue—were used to it.

"I think Chase will have them on the ground!" Zippy cried, grinning.

"Me?" Chase asked, surprised. "What are you talking about? You're the cutest one!"

"I am, aren't I?" Zippy said, then she walked down the aisle of the bus like a model on a runway.

Magnetic rolled her eyes.

The boys watched eagerly as the girls from C tent loaded off the bus. So far they had seen six very beautiful girls, but there were still two more tents to get off the buses.

"Cameron, Jena, Vanessa," the male counselor said.

"Wow, Jena's hot!" Squid said, licking his lips.

"I like Vanessa!" Magnet said.

"The girls in our tent better be hotties," X-Ray said.

"Yeah, I hope they don't have cow bells," Zigzag said, his eyes widening as a girl named Savannah walked by him and winked.

"Kate," the male counselor paused as the last girl from C tent jumped down out of the bus. "Now for D tent," he said, as he moved over to the third bus and the doors opened.

"Allie," the male counselor said first. The boys watched as a thin girl whose hands were shaking stepped off the bus. Her dirty blonde hair, that hung past her shoulders, was braided into two thick plaits. Her nose was sprinkled with freckles and her big green eyes were bright with excitement and curiosity.

Twitch straightened his back.

Fidget looked around at all the boys staring at her, she was now fidgeting with the bottom rim of her shirt. She wasn't quite sure where to go though, so she just stood there looking from face to face of each boy.

"Allie, move along," the male counselor said, directing her toward the other Lakeway girls who were now crowding around the Warden, giggling as Fidget made her way toward them.

"Mahina," the counselor continued.

"Wow," some of the boys whispered as the next girl got off the bus. Her eyes and skin were dark, as her Hawaiian ancestors. Her black wavy hair that dangled down her back was held up at the ear by a bright pink-fake-hibiscus. She flashed a toothy smile that she couldn't hold back as some of the boys had started whistling. Then she joined the other Lakeway girls in front of the Mess Hall and peered around eagerly.

"I want me some Mahina," Armpit said, looking her up and down.

"She's damn fine," X-Ray said, biting his lip.

"Willow," the counselor said after the noise had died down a bit.

The next girl bounded off the bus with such a force that the male counselor had to grab the side of the bus to keep from falling on his behind.

Magnet jumped to his feet and started whistling, as did a lot of the other boys. With large turquoise eyes the third girl batted her eyelashes at everyone and flipped her long blonde hair twice. She was the tallest girl of D tent and also the only one who showed off before the boys. Squid licked his lips yet again and X-Ray clapped his hands. Willow slowly walked towards the other girls, making sure all the boys could see the way her hips swayed with every step she took.

"Margie."

Zigzag was surprised when the forth girl off the bus, Margie, was a tall white girl whose light brown hair stuck out at every angle—even though it'd been forcefully pulled back into a pony tail. It was as if the static electricity in the air followed her everywhere. But Margie didn't look too comfortable as she walked toward the Warden, and some of the other Lakeway girls giggled.

"Emily," the counselor said.

The fifth girl off the bus did not smile, wave, blush, or anything. She tiredly walked down the bus steps and moved toward the other girls, not looking at any of the Green Lake boys. She had blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and an expression of mere boredom and sleepiness. When a couple of Green Lake boys, coming back from digging, hit on her with crooked smiles and small remarks, she narrowed her eyes and scowled at them.

"Hey Squid," Zigzag said, nudging Squid's arm to catch his attention. "What do you think about her?"

But Squid didn't answer. He was too busy watching Emily, with a confused look on his face. He wasn't sure what he thought about her. She was very beautiful but she seemed distant and upset.

"Nyssa."

The shortest girl of D tent jumped off the bus as though she'd been anticipating this for years. Her appearance was spunky and lively, and she looked very excited. Zero couldn't help smiling as Nyssa's eyes fell on him. She was thin and Asian looking. Her beautiful eyes were dark and her long dark hair was streaked with light brown and blonde. She happily followed the scowling girl and immediately began whispering to her—staring at each boy in turn.

"Alicia."

The last girl off the third bus was probably the smallest one yet. She was at the most an inch taller than Nyssa, but she was so thin and frail that she reminded some of the boys of a stick. She was a very tough looking black girl whose black hair was pulled back into cornrows. Her lips were tight and her eyebrows were bent in a scowl as she barely glanced at the group of boys watching her. She walked over to the other girls where she stood, waiting for instructions, as the boys still stared.

"Damn," X-Ray said, still staring at her. "She's hot!"

"She looks mean," Armpit said.

"What are you worried about, Armpit?" Squid asked. "'Fraid she's gonna beat you up?"

"Yeah man," Zigzag added. "You're like four times her size!"

The D tent boys laughed. But their laughter was cut short as another girl had just walked in front of their view. She had stepped out of a small truck that had been parked off to the side, and she now headed over to the group of girls herself.

"No way she's a juvenile delinquent," Magnet said, watching her closely.

The woman did seem to be past her teen years, and a lot of the boys were confused.

"I hope she's in my tent," a boy from E tent said.

"All right girls," the Warden said, she no longer looked worried or frantic. "Welcome to Camp Green Lake. For your first day here you will be shown around the camp by one of our counselors. Tomorrow, you begin your work, which will be just like the work you did at Camp Lakeway. So, let the tours begin."

With that, the Warden stepped aside and let the camp counselors take over.

"Follow me D tent," a short man wearing a sun hat called. "My name is Mr. Pendanski and I'll be your camp counselor here at Camp Green Lake."

"What about Friction?" Lei asked him.

"Excuse me?" Mr. Pendanski asked calmly. "Who's Friction?"

"I am," the female in her twenties said with a little laugh.

Mr. Pendanski raised his eyebrows when he shook her hand: he hadn't noticed her earlier.

"I'm Sarah," Friction said. "I was the girls' old counselor. But don't worry, I'm not here to take your job—just to help the girls along."

"Oh," Mr. Pendanski said. "Well then, let me show you around now."

"Um, could the first spot on our tour be the bathroom?" Static asked, she was now rocking slowly from foot to foot.


	3. Criminal Confessions

"So what do you think about the D tent girls?" Magnet asked, his eyebrows raised.

"What don't I think about them?" Twitch cried.

"Mahina, Willow, and Nyssa are hot!" X-Ray said. "But Alicia is the hottest!"

"I like Allie the most!" Twitch said, his writs twitching.

"I still wish that Olivia was in our tent," Squid said.

"Yeah," Zigzag agreed.

"But she's not," The Lump laughed. He and his older friends from B tent were standing on the other side of the porch chuckling. "I wonder what we'll do together first?" The Lump said, raising his eyebrows. His friends laughed.

The D tent boys ignored them though and all walked off in the direction Mr. Pendanski had taken the D tent girls.

"Here's your outfits," Mr. Pendanski said, handing each girl two pairs of orange jumpsuits, shirts and socks.

"Ew! Bright orange totally doesn't work for me!" Magnetic said, wrinkling her nose as she took her two outfits.

"Don't worry dumb ass," Rogue said sourly. "I'm sure you'll live."

"_Girls_," Friction warned.

"Yes well," Mr. Pendanski continued. "You should wear one set for work and the other for relaxation. Laundry is done every three days. On that day your work clothes will be washed and your relaxation clothes will become your work clothes. You will get your clean clothes while resting.

"You are to dig one hole a day—including Saturdays and Sundays. Each hole must be—"

"Yeah, yeah yeah," Magnetic interrupted. "We aren't new to this you know! Each hole has to be five feet deep and five feet wide. And we eat breakfast every morning at 4:30—right?"

Mr. Pendanski must have looked taken aback because Friction had pushed Magnetic in the back and had frowned at her.

"Okay then," Mr. Pendanski said, and he lead the way to the tents. "That's the Wreck Room," he pointed out. "And there's the showers." Some of the girls giggled. "And here's the tents." Mr. Pendanski had stopped before two rows of tents.

Originally there had been six tents at Camp Green Lake, but now there were eleven. Ten of them were for the campers and the eleventh one, tent F, was for the counselors. Each tent had a black letter on it and there were now doubles of every letter: A, B, C, D, and E. The girls could see Friction eyeing tent F precariously: back at Camp Lakeway she had slept in a cabin.

"Here's your tent," Mr. Pendanski said, walking up to a newer tent with the letter D on it. "You girls can get settled in and everything and then come down for dinner at the Mess Hall." Then he turned to Friction. "I'll show you the counselor's tent and everything," he said, and them he walked Friction towards tent F.

"Oh he so likes her," Magnetic said, laughing.

"Yup! He said he was gonna show her EVERYTHING!" Zippy laughed.

"Ew!" Lei cried.

Then the girls shuffled into their tent. There were seven brand new cots, each one less that two feet away from the one next to it. Seven crates were stacked in two piles at one side of the tent. The open end of the crates faced outward. The girls put their backpacks and belongings into the crates and then set the cots up the way they wanted them.

Magnetic pulled a bunch of old magazines out of her backpack and spread them out all over her cot. Then she made the sheets look a little messier, and stood back to look at it.

"There, just like home," she said.

Zippy and Chase sat down on cots right next to each other, and Chase watched as Zippy pulled a little stuffed animal out of her bag. It was a small, fuzzy animal that portrayed Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. Ever since Zippy had arrived at Camp Lakeway she had admired her little toy, and even now she held him close.

"What boring grey sheets!" Lei said, frowning down at her cot. Then she pulled a very colorful, Hawaiian print sheet out of her bag and spread it out over her bed.

Static pulled a mirror and a comb out of her backpack and sat down on her cot. She did the best she could but no matter what she did she couldn't make her hair behave. "I give up!" she said after five attempts. She pulled her hair back into it's regular ponytail.

Rogue sat down on a cot that was farthest away from everybody else, and was almost completely hidden in shadows. She laid down on her new bed and just stared up at the ceiling.

Fidget jumped on her cot, but to her disappointment she didn't bounce; the springs in the bed were two small.

"I'm hungry!" Magnetic cried.

"Thanks for sharing," Static said.

"Let's go get some food and boys!" Fidget said excitedly, she started fidgeting with her hair again.

The other girls agreed—even Rogue—and they all got up and headed out of the tent, towards the Mess Hall.

"Ew!" Magnetic squealed as the cafeteria workers ladled some beans onto her plate.

"Oh yeah. Beans, bread and weird meat. My favorite," Chase said sarcastically.

Even the normally bouncy, excited Zippy didn't seem too thrilled about dinner.

"Where do we sit?" Static asked after all the D tent girls had got their food. They all stood in a group at the head of the cafeteria, looking at everyone talking excitedly. The boys and girls were definitely getting off to a good start.

"Hey D tent!" X-Ray called to the girls, standing up so he could see them over everyone.

"Come on!" Fidget said excitedly.

The girls slowly made their way over to the D tent table, as the cafeteria was now very crowded with twice as many people.

"Sit down," X-Ray said as soon as the girls got to the table. He was watching Rogue very closely.

"Hey," Magnetic said in a cool voice as she took a seat next to Squid.

"Hey," the boys said. Fidget took a seat across from Twitch and started playing with her fork immediately. Rogue sat as far away from any of the boys as possible, way down at the end of the table. Lei sat between Zigzag and Armpit and Chase and Zippy sat down next to each other, a little ways away from the boys. Zippy started frantically whispering about each boy, asking Chase what she thought, and every time Chase replied with a sour remark.

"So what are your names?" Lei asked. She didn't notice Zigzag peeking down the front of her shirt.

"I'm X-Ray," X-Ray answered quickly, wanting to reply first.

"I'm Squid and that's Zigzag."

Zigzag looked up really quickly and smiled.

"I'm Armpit and that's Zero and Twitch."

Twitch's hand shot across the table towards Fidget. "Hi!" he said.

"Hey," Fidget replied, shaking Twitch's hand.

"And I'm Magnet," Magnet said proudly.

"What?" Magnetic snapped.

"Whoa! HA HA! Your name's Magnet?" Zippy laughed.

"Yeah..." Magnet said slowly. "What's wrong with Magnet?"

"Nothing's wrong with it," Static said. "It's just that her name's Magnetic." She pointed at Magnetic.

"Yeah, _my_ name is Magnetic," Magnetic said.

"Whoa! Ironic huh, chica?" Magnet said with a laugh.

But Magnetic didn't laugh. She looked as though someone had just stolen something very precious from her.

"So what are your names—_if_ you all have nicknames too?" X-Ray asked, his eyebrows raised.

"My name is Lei, cause I'm part Hawaiian," Lei said. "Her name is Fidget because she fidgets with EVERYTHING!"

A huge grin spread across Fidget's face.

"And my name is Magnetic cause I can steal ANYTHING!" Magnetic said, her nose in the air.

"My name is Static because of my hair," Static said, trying to tame her hair yet again. Zigzag smiled.

"Oh Static, that's not the reason why we call you Static and you know it!" Lei said. "Her name is Static because she's obsessed with electricity."

"I'm not obsessed!" Static argued.

"Oh please!" Magnetic laughed. "Your hair probably sticks up like that because you've played with too many electrical cords!"

"ANYWAY!" Lei continued. "That way over there is Rogue. She's called that because she's always so bitchy and independent—you can't trust her."

"Rogue," X-Ray repeated. "I like that."

Rogue glanced up from her plate long enough to glower at him.

"And that's Zippy," Lei said.

Zippy sat up really fast and smiled. "Hi!"

Zero couldn't help grinning from ear to ear.

"Obviously she's called Zippy because she's so hyper," Lei said, smiling. "She can't sit still for more than five minutes. And last but certainly not least, that's Chase."

Chase looked up and caught Squid's eye. But she only looked at him for a few seconds before looking back down at her plate.

"Why's Chase called Chase?" Zigzag asked.

"Because she always leads people on a chase!" Zippy replied. "The cops, boys, everyone!"

"Speaking of cops, what did you guys do to get arrested?" X-Ray asked. "It couldn't have been that bad: You all seem so nice."

"We don't all seem so nice," Magnetic said, narrowing her eyes.

"Well," Static began. "Zippy stole eighty boxes of giant pixie sticks!"

"You're kidding... _Right_?" Squid asked.

"Nope!" Zippy replied happily.

"She LOVES sugar," Lei explained.

"Yeah! I couldn't help it!" Zippy exclaimed.

"How did you get out of the store with eighty boxes of giant pixie sticks without getting caught?" Twitch asked.

Zippy laughed. "I didn't steal them all at once!" she said. "I stole them over a long period of time—like a month. I was getting really good at it too, but then one day I went into the store and while I was in there the cops had parked outside for a break. You can guess how I was greeted."

The boys laughed.

"You like sugar, huh?" Zero asked, still smiling.

"Yeah. But my favorite kind of sugar is _brown_ sugar," Zippy said smoothly.

Squid laughed and nudged Zero's arm.

"What did you do Magnetic?" Magnet asked.

Magnetic seemed very eager to tell so she jumped into the story immediately. "Well, you see, I've always been a really good thief," (the D tent girls rolled their eyes: they were used to Magnetic's bragging) "and so I was at this jewelers one day and I saw the most beautiful gems and diamonds! I just had to have them! But I didn't really have enough money—it's not that I'm poor or anything—it's just that these necklaces and bracelets and stuff were really expensive. So I distracted the jewelers salesman by convincing this one woman that she just had to buy this one boring ring. So while that woman was talking about buying with the salesman, I picked the lock on the case and took the ice—"

"And no one saw you?" Twitch asked.

"No," Magnetic bragged. "I'm very sneaky. Anyway, I stuffed this gorgeous choker, two fab bracelets and three rings into my pockets! I would have totally made it out if this stupid fat woman hadn't bumped into me at the exit—she practically knocked me off my feet! But when Ms. Blubber did so one of the rings fell out of my pocket and rolled right up to the feet of the salesman. Man was he pissed!"

Zigzag laughed. "That just _had_ to happen."

"It's kinda crazy to steal a bunch of jewelry right under the nose of the sales guy," Armpit said.

Magnetic shrugged. "I'm a girl, and diamonds are a girl's best friend!"

A lot of the other girls shook their heads.

"Well I think Static is the crazy one!" Lei said. "She could have killed lots of people—not to mention herself—with the crime she committed."

"What'd you do?" Zigzag asked Static eagerly.

"Go on, tell them," Fidget urged.

"All right, all right," Static gave in. "Well, I've always loved acting more than anything and there was this really cool part I wanted to audition for. I practiced for that part every day for hours. I got pretty bad grades in school because I was so busy practicing the character's lines to care about doing my homework. My friends got all mad at be because I barely had time for them and my parents were mad at me and everything! Finally I went to the director of the play and auditioned for the part that I really wanted. I spilled my heart out on that stage but did I get the part? No! And all because I didn't have the look the director wanted for th character! They ended up choosing Jasmine Applewhite—" she said the name sourly "—little miss gorgeous with breasts bigger than her head!" Some of the boys laughed at this.

"Come on Static," Zippy cried. "Tell them the best part already!"

"Well anyway," Static continued. "I was so mad I hadn't got the part that the very same day they told me the bad news I electrocuted their stage."

"How'd you electrocute it?" Squid asked eagerly.

"I just cut a cord that was plugged in and held it up the the stage curtains," Static replied as if it were no big deal.

Zigzag raised his eyebrows in surprise and smiled again.

"What did you do Lei?" Armpit asked.

"She set fire to a drugstore," Fidget answered. "But none of us know how or why she did it because she always denies it."

"I did not set fire to a drugstore!" Lei cried, though she did sound a little sheepish.

"What did Rogue do?" X-Ray asked, staring in Rogue's direction. She was now leaning back in her chair, her arms crossed and her feet up on the table. Again she was glaring up at the ceiling.

"She shot a guy," Zippy said, lowering her excited voice so that Rogue couldn't hear her.

"She shot a guy?" Armpit asked.

Lei nodded. "See, Rogue grew up in this really dodgy neighborhood—you know, the kind of place where a bunch of street gangs and graffiti artists lived. She used to get into tons of fights so one day she stole her dad's gun and kept it everywhere—"

"Even at school?" Twitch asked.

"Yup," Fidget replied. "Then she met this guy who was really hot and definitely The Guy in her neighborhood. I think she actually loved him!" Fidget said, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, she did," Lei confirmed. "But he was one of those bastards who used Rogue and became really controlling. He started taking over her life—"

"So Rogue, being the tough girl that she is, wouldn't take his shit any more," Static continued. "So one day, she broke up with him. He didn't like that at all—"

"So he and his friends cornered Rogue in the street one day," Lei said. "And you see how tiny Rogue is? It must have been really hard for her to fend off three really tall, strong guys. All the protection she had other than her fist was her gun. So she shot one of her ex-boyfriend's friends in the leg twice, which scared off the other two—"

"But the cops got her before she could get away," Fidget ended.

"But you can't be arrested for just defending yourself!" X-Ray cried, he now looked upon Rogue in a new light.

"Tell that to the cops that arrested her," Lei said.

Everyone was silent for a minute or two.

"What'd you do?" Twitch asked Fidget after everyone had retired from silently watching Rogue.

"She fidgeted too much in class and the teacher got so annoyed that she called the cops!" Zippy started laughing.

Fidget rolled her eyes but did end up laughing with the others.

"No, I just broke into my neighbors house," Fidget said.

Twitch looked taken aback—as if he'd been expecting something more.

"So, you just broke into someone's house and got arrested?" Squid asked.

"Well, broke in, stole some stuff, broke their windows, burned half their living room, and gave their house a new paint job by using a spray can." Fidget paused as if there was more but wanted to know if she should continue.

"How and why did you do all that stuff?" Zero asked.

"I couldn't help it!" Fidget replied. "I have a habit of fidgeting with stuff!"

Lei laughed. "That's an understatement! You have an obsession with fidgeting with stuff!"

Twitch laughed and Fidget blushed.

"What'd she do?" Squid asked, nodding towards Chase who was turned the other way, ignoring their conversation. When Squid asked this the big grin on Zippy's face disappeared and she too turned away from the conversation.

"Dunno," Lei said quietly.

"Yeah, she never told any of us except Zippy, her best friend," Static said.

"Whatever she did though it must have been pretty bad," Fidget said, looking at Chase curiously. "Her sentence is almost six years. That's probably the reason why she's so sarcastic and dark though."

"Oh," Squid said. He looked back at Chase who was now so slumped over on the bench that her nose was almost in her food. Zippy was looking around the cafeteria watching all the people laughing and talking as she pretended not to hear them.

"I bet Chase didn't do anything that bad!" Magnetic said. "She's just upset all the time because she can't handle digging holes! She feels so sorry for herself that she cries about it!"

No one agreed with Magnetic and the conversation abruptly ended there.


	4. Must Have Been the Beans

"So, what did you do to get arrested?" Fidget asked Twitch as all of D tent headed towards the tents after dinner.

"I stole a car," Twitch said, "went joy ridin'."

"Really? Cool," Fidget said, she thought Twitch was very cute and she wanted to talk to him as much as she could. "What kind of car was it?"

"Jaguar," Twitch said, he started blinking really fast and his hands twitched every now and then. "Really fast, nice car," he said.

"Yeah," Fidget said. She started playing with the hem of her sleeves.

* * *

* * *

"What do you think about the D tent girls?" Xray asked Squid as they walked.

"Well Magnetic is really hot but she's annoying," Squid began. "And Zippy is real cute but too hyper for me."

"Yes, go on," Zigzag said, walking up to Squid and Xray and joining their conversation.

"Well, Lei is pretty, but....i dunno," Squid continued.

"What about Static?" Zigzag said, "I think she's the hottest!"

"I dunno," Squid replied. "Fidget isn't really what I'm lookin' for but she is cute. And Rogue-" Xray smiled really big "-she seems like too much of a killer for me."

"Well maybe for you," Xray said. "But i know i can tame her!"

"Well Squid, that leaves one girl you haven't said anything about," Zigzag said.

"Who? Chase?" Squid shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno enough about her. She hasn't said a word in front of me and the fact that no one but Zippy knows about the crime she committed is kinda' weird."

"Yeah, but she is hot," Xray said, Zigzag nodded his head in agreement. "Maybe if you just 'feel-her-out' she'll open all up to you."

"You two will have beautiful children!" Zigzag said, then both he and Xray laughed.

* * *

* * *

"I like Zero!" Zippy said, bouncing along beside Chase. "He's soooo cute!"

"Yup, and it's so obvious he likes you," Chase replied smiling.

"So, what do you think about the guys?" Zippy asked, "What do you think about Zigzag?"

"What, that tall kid with the weird hair?" Chase said with a smirk, "So not my type!"

"Do you even have a type?" Zippy asked.

Chase shrugged.

"Did you think Magnet was cute?" Zippy tried again.

"Eh, maso menus," Chase replied. Then at the confused look on Zippy's face she replied, "He's just okay. I would never date him though! He's so into girl's looks that he'd probably cheat on me the day after we started dating."

"Sheesh Chase," Zippy said. "Have at least a little faith in people, would you?" Then she asked, "What do you think about Squid?"

"That stupid kid that kept staring at me?" Chase said with a cold laugh, "His mother really ought to have taught him some manners!"

Zippy shook her head. "I give up!" she said, "You'll never date again so why do i bother asking you about boys?"

Chase smiled, "Hey that's okay; it's probably healthy for me to have someone looking out for me all the time!"

A big grin spread across Zippy's face.

* * *

* * *

"Hey, wanna come in for a little bit?" Xray asked the girls; he was holding the tent flap of the boy's tent open.

"Sure!" Lei said, she, Fidget, and Static walked right in. Magnetic went in next.

"Come on!" Zippy said, grabbing Chase's hand before she had a chance to sulk off to the girl's tent.

But Rogue refused, and even though Xray still held the tent flap open, waiting for her to come in, she passed him by and walked into the girl's tent.

"Sit down where ever you want," Zigzag said, dropping onto his cot.

Fidget sat next to Twitch on his cot, Lei sat down on the floor, her legs crossed, Static leaned against Zigzag's bed but didn't sit down, Magnetic sat on Squid's bed (to his dismay), and Zippy and Chase sat down on Zero's cot with him.

"So what do you guys think about Green Lake so far?" Armpit asked.

"I think i could learn to like it," Static said, looking at Zigzag.

Everyone seemed to start talking at once, all of them seemed to break off into groups of two, three, or four, all talking excitedly, everyone seemed to be falling in love-except Chase. She had never thought she'd feel this way but all of a sudden she found herself thinking about Rogue and how she hated everyone. Chase found herself realizing what it was to be the tough girl; it meant being alone. Independence never had seemed like a bad thing-until now. Chase looked around the room; first at Twitch and Fidget who were talking really quickly while one fidgeted and the other twitched. Then she saw Xray, Static, and Zigzag laughing at a joke just shared. Lei, Magnetic, Armpit, and Magnet were talking in a corner of the tent. Then she saw Zero and Zippy, both looking a little bashful as they talked on the very same cot she was now sitting on. Then she saw a boy who was sitting on a cot on the opposite side of the tent, watching her. It was Squid. He wasn't talking to anyone, but sitting there, staring at her from across the room. She raised her eyebrows as if to say "what's your problem", but instead of looking away from her he just tilted his head a little to the side and kept on staring. Chase rolled her eyes and looked away, but the feeling of being watched was very uncomfortable. The next time she looked back at Squid he was sitting right beside her on Zero's cot.

"What the!" Chase cried; she had almost fallen off the bed with such surprise.

"Hey," Squid said.

"Um.....Hi," Chase said, she did not feel like talking to him.

"So, you likin' Greenlake so far?" he asked her.

"Not really," she snapped; she was trying to drive him away.

"Well don't worry," he said. "It'll get better for you."

"Oh yeah!" Chase said sarcastically. "Tomorrow i start digging stupid holes here; how much more fun."

Squid smiled. "Well I wasn't talking about the holes," he said. "But if you would enjoy digging holes here be my guest."

Chase glanced darkly at him. He was a tough costumer to drive away, but she knew she could do it. She just had to prove to him that she would never do anything more for him than let him sit by her once in his life.

"Why're you so negative all the time," Squid knew this wasn't a very good question, and he knew he wouldn't get much of an answer, but he was curious about what her crime had been that he had to ask.

"None of your business," Chase snapped, but Squid did see a big change in her; she now looked on the verge of being traumatized and miserable.

"Listen," Chase said. "I'm not feeling so well-must've been those beans i ate-so I'm gonna go now." She got up and left the tent.

But Squid had watched her at dinner and she hadn't even taken a bite.


	5. The First Shower is the Hardest

"I like Zero a lot!" Zippy said the next morning, as the girls sleepily got up and got ready to dig. Even early in the morning Zippy was a live wire.  
  
"Yeah," Chase said, yawning. "You two would make a really cute little couple."  
  
Zippy grinned and hopped around the tent, annoying some of the people like Magnetic who weren't morning people.  
  
"Could you hand me a shovel please?" Chase asked while Zippy reached up into the 'Library' and grabbed two shovels.  
  
"Come on girls," Friction said after they had all gotten their shovels. They all followed Mr. Sir out onto the lake, where he directed each girl to where they would be digging.  
  
Magnetic dug her shovel into the hard earth's surface. She didn't seem like she would be good at digging in the boy's opinions, but her time at Camp Lakeway had changed that. "I look so bad in this outfit," she complained as her dirt pile grew larger. "I mean it's orange, it's baggy, it's just SO hideous!"  
  
"Would you shut up!" Chase cried, "It's too early for your annoyance fest!"  
  
Magnetic glared at Chase, but she didn't complain anymore for the rest of the morning.  
  
"Ouch!" Fidget cried as her shovel hit a big rock.  
  
"What?" Twitch asked urgently.  
  
"Oh nothin'," Fidget replied. "I just got a sliver in my hand from the shovel shaft." She held her hand up to her face to examine it.  
  
"Wow, the ground here seems a lot softer than at Lakeway," Lei said, pushing her shovel back into the dirt. "It's a lot easier."  
  
Squid and Xray raised their eyebrows at each other.  
  
A few hours later the water truck rolled around, and it was kind of odd getting in line. Back at Camp Lakeway the girl's line up had been Chase, Zippy, Magnetic, Fidget, Rogue, Static, and Lei. Here they had to compromise.  
  
Xray tried to get Rogue to be in the front of the line, right in front of him, but she had refused and gone to the very back of the line. So Xray let Lei cut in front of him instead. Twitch wanted Fidget to stand next to him, and Magnet wanted all the girls around him-but he had to cope with just two girls. Zero had Zippy cut him and Zippy had Chase cut her, which Chase didn't want to do but Zippy had insisted. The new lineup went like this; Lei, Xray, Squid, Magnetic, Zigzag, Static, Magnet, Fidget, Twitch, Armpit, Chase, Zippy, Zero, and Rogue. It was a longer wait for their water but a lot of them didn't really care.  
  
"Where do you go to the bathroom in this place?" Magnetic asked, a few hours later.  
  
"Pick a hole, any hole," Magnet replied with a big grin.  
  
"EW NO!" Magnetic replied. "There's no way in hell I'm peein' in a hole!"  
  
So Magnetic had walked all the way to the compound and back to use the bathroom, wasting a lot of her digging time.  
  
Zippy had never really been the best digger of D tent, it wasn't that she wasn't strong or anything, she was just so small. Sometimes when Chase had finished her hole at Camp Lakeway she would jump into Zippy's hole and help her out. That way they'd both finish together, and Zippy wouldn't be left all by herself.  
  
There had never really been a 'fastest digger' in D tent for the girls. Sometimes Chase finished first, sometimes Fidget finished first, sometimes Magnetic finished first-if she hadn't spent most of her time complaining about the dirt or the heat or how gross sweat was.  
  
Today however, Rogue finished first, and she headed back to the compound looking pissed (the girls had never spat in their holes after they finished). Then Zero finished, but he didn't leave, he walked up to Zippy and helped her dig.  
  
That's my job, Chase thought for a moment, but then she watched the two for a minute and saw that they really would make a cute couple, so her negative attitude changed.  
  
"Done," she said at last. It was so hot she was starting to get a headache.  
  
Xray finished too, and immediately after he'd spat in the hole he ran back to the compound to find Rogue. Fidget finished next, and Squid after her. A while later while Fidget, Magnetic, Chase, Lei, and Static were all walking towards the compound when Zippy ran up calling after them.  
  
"Hey," she said when she reached them. Then to Chase she said, "I probably would have finished sooner 'cause Zero is a great digger but we spent a lot of the time talking!" She grinned.  
  
When the girls reached the compound they were dirty and smelly, and all of them would do anything for a shower. But when they walked up to the shower stalls they all stopped. The stall didn't go that high and the girls were worried one of the boys might see something.  
  
"I'm not takin' a shower in one of those!" Static said. Lei and Fidget were giggling as there was a boy in the third stall.  
  
"Aren't there any other showers?" Zippy asked.  
  
Rogue walked up to the group of girls, she hadn't taken a shower yet either.  
  
"There is no way in hell I'm taking a shower in that!" she snapped. "None of these damn boys are seein' me naked!"  
  
"I know," Fidget said, cracking her knuckles over and over again. "That would be really embarrassing!"  
  
"Oh please, no boy would be able to see anything unless you were what, six foot two?" Magnetic said.  
  
"Yeah but still," Lei said. "This is a boy's camp."  
  
"No it's not!" Magnetic argued. "Not anymore!"  
  
Chase looked around, some boys were watching them laughing, and a bunch of girls were getting back from digging, complaining about the showers just as D tent was. A few steps away Olivia Danker was talking to her friends.  
  
"I mean these boys are jerks!" she cried. "Yesterday they wouldn't stop looking down my top, and some of them kept pinching my butt!"  
  
In a way Chase felt sorry for Olivia; it must be tough to have a bunch of dumb asses bothering her all because she's pretty. But Chase didn't feel too sorry for Olivia; it was hard to pity someone who looked good even in a baggy orange jumpsuit.  
  
"Oh my god! You guys are pathetic!" Magnetic said. She then pushed past everyone and stepped into one of the stalls.  
  
"She's crazy," Zippy whispered. Chase laughed.  
  
After removing her clothes Magnetic turned the water on and started taking her shower. She didn't seem to mind the onlookers though, as they could no more than her head and shoulders. But what Magnetic didn't see was Magnet. He was standing off to the side when he winked at Squid and started moving toward the shower.  
  
"See, no problem!" Magnetic shouted at the D tent girls.  
  
"Hola chika!" Magnet said, he was leaning against the shower stall smiling at Magnetic.  
  
Magnetic screamed, and, with a towel wrapped around her, raced out of the shower stall. "You fucking bastard!" she screamed, as she ran towards D tent.  
  
Magnet, Zigzag, Squid, and Xray couldn't stop laughing.  
  
"I'm not taking a shower now," Chase said, but she too couldn't help laughing. The whole ordeal was pretty funny.  
  
"Who's next?" Magnet asked, grinning. 


	6. An Unexpected Game of Pool

"I cannot believe this!" Magnetic said.  
  
All the D tent girls were sitting in their tent, all of them, but Magnetic, were still smelly and dirty.  
  
Magnetic was sitting on her cot, wrapped in a white robe, wearing slippers that portrayed frogs. Her long blonde hair was still wet as she sat there pouting.  
  
"Oh great," Chase said. "No more showers for six more months!"  
  
"And I thought all the boys were nice," Fidget said, putting her arm around the distressed Magnetic.  
  
"And I ACTUALLY thought Magnet was kinda' cute!" Magnetic cried.  
  
"So did I," Static said. Then after taking a deep breath she wrinkled her nose and said, "Man I stink! This really sucks!"  
  
But Static wasn't the only one who stank. That night at dinner the cafeteria didn't smell good. The only girl any of the D tent boys wouldn't mind sitting by was Magnetic, but she sat at the very end of the table, across from Rogue, as she was so distrot.  
  
"What are we going to do about this though?" Zippy asked after dinner that evening. "I can't go without a shower!"  
  
Chase looked over at Lei, who was lying beneath her nice sheets, her eyes closed.  
  
"I have an idea," Chase said, turning back to Zippy.  
  
* * *  
  
The sun beat down on them as they dug the next day, the girls feeling completely gross and grimy.  
  
"So girls, what do you think about Camp Greenlake so far?" Mr. Pendanski asked, as he filled Lei's canteen later that day.  
  
The girls shrugged, and looked at each other. Magnetic's face tightened.  
  
"Man this is so gross," Lei said, the girls were walking back towards the compound around five, all feeling tired and sick. "Another day without a shower."  
  
Chase winked at Zippy.  
  
"I wanna take a shower first!" Zippy said, the other girls stared at her.  
  
"So you wanna risk utter humiliation?" Lei asked.  
  
Static shrugged. "Well she is a lot shorter than Magnetic; maybe no one will see anything?"  
  
"Are you desperate for a shower?" Fidget asked Zippy.  
  
"You'll see," Zippy said, grinning.  
  
When they reached the compound there were already a bunch of girls moping about the showers. But Chase walked right past them and went into the girl's D tent. A few seconds later she came back out, carrying the old gray sheets Lei had exchanged for her Hawaiian sheets.  
  
"Ah, I see the wheels turning," Lei said, as Chase walked toward one of the shower stalls. She then took one of the sheets and pinned it up around the top of the shower stall.  
  
"Why didn't I think about that!" Static said.  
  
"The Girl Shower is now open!" Chase said, stepping back and checking her work.  
  
Zippy grabbed a towel and ran to the stall.  
  
"Yeah, but what if one of the boys pulls the curtain back while we're in the shower?" a thin girl from tent E asked.  
  
"There's always gonna be girls around here," Chase replied. "We can watch out for whoever is taking a shower. Plus if that doesn't work there's always the Warden to consult with," she raised her eyebrows at Magnet, who was standing off to the side with the other D tent boys.  
  
After the D tent girls had taken their showers they decided to check out the Wreck Room.  
  
"Oh I get why they call it the 'Wreck Room'," Zippy said, as the girls walked into the room. Everything was broken and if it wasn't broken yet it was on it's way.  
  
Zigzag sat staring at a television with a broken antenna, a lot of the Greenlake boys sat around on old couches and chairs. Some boys played pool, some were playing phoos ball, but most were just sitting around relaxing after a long day of digging.  
  
Magnetic frowned at the radio that was playing rock music.  
  
"Hey," Xray said when the girls walked in, but to his dismay Rogue hadn't come with them.  
  
"Sit down," Twitch said, gesturing to the couches and chairs.  
  
Magnetic made sure she was nowhere near Magnet when she chose a place to sit. Most of the girls sat kind of grouped together, as there were some rowdy looking boys in this room.  
  
Zero sat down next to Zippy. "Hey," he said.  
  
Zippy smiled.  
  
"Anyone up for a game of pool?" Squid asked, walking over to one of the vacant pool tables.  
  
"Chase wants to play!" Zippy cried.  
  
Chase shot Zippy a surprised look. "No I don't!" she said.  
  
"But just outside you were telling me how much you wanted to play a game of pool," Zippy said loudly, ever grinning.  
  
"I never-" Chase began.  
  
"What, you afraid I'll beat you?" Squid asked.  
  
"What?" Chase said turning to him. "I am not afraid."  
  
"Then why won't you play?" Zigzag asked her.  
  
"I-I just-" Chase was having trouble coming up with something good to say.  
  
"Yeah Chase, why won't you play?" Fidget asked, smiling.  
  
Was everyone out to set her up with Squid? Chase had no choice but to play with him-or at least that's how it felt. She stood up and whispered to Zippy that she was going to have to pay for this, but Zippy just smiled and waved Chase goodbye.  
  
"Hey," Squid said, handing Chase one of the pool sticks. Chase glared at him.  
  
"Just start the game," she said.  
  
The game began pretty quickly as Chase didn't really feel like talking to Squid all that much.  
  
"Sorry about the other night," Squid said, apologizing for his rude question two evenings ago. He positioned himself so he could hit the fifth ball.  
  
"Yeah, whatever," Chase said, moving around the table.  
  
"You know, if you smiled once in a while it'd make you a whole lot prettier," Squid said.  
  
"Well isn't that nice to know," Chase said, scowling harder. Then she hit the fifteenth ball and it rolled into the pocket.  
  
"Nice shot," Squid said, aiming his pool stick at the second ball. "I hear you like leadin' people on a chase," he said.  
  
"Why else would my name be Chase," Chase said, walking around the table looking for a shot she could make.  
  
"Cops, boys....." Squid continued, watching Chase.  
  
"Everyone," Chase said. "Especially boys."  
  
"Why?" Squid asked. "What's wrong with boys?"  
  
"You want me to tell you everything that's wrong with boys?" Chase said, hitting the seventh ball, which just missed the pocket.  
  
"Well not everything," Squid said. "Just the gist of it: Why do you hate boys?"  
  
"I never said I hated all boys," Chase replied. "A few are nice; like Zero over there," she cocked her head towards the group of couches where most of D tent was sitting. "But all the other boys are dirty, rude, stupid morons that I love to squash like bugs."  
  
Squid smiled.  
  
"I mean, why the hell does your kind think you know everything? And the way you're always showing off in front off people; it's stupid! And I HATE how 'humans' are called 'man-kind'-I mean we aren't all men! And it's not like men rule the world!"  
  
Squid laughed, then he shot the seventh ball into the pocket.  
  
"Show off," Chase said.  
  
Squid smiled, then gave a big pout and said, "But don't you think some of us are cute?"  
  
"Well if you're talking about yourself then I say N-O," Chase replied. "But sure, some guys are kinda' cute-but that's your secret weapon! You lure girls in with your faces and your muscles, and then you use the girl for your own stupid, evil purposes!"  
  
Squid laughed at this too. "Well then what's up with girls looks?" he asked.  
  
Chase furrowed her brow.  
  
"I mean a lot of you girls lure us in with your looks and then you have us buy you everything and then you dump us for the richer guy."  
  
"Not all girls do that!" Chase said.  
  
"Well not all boys use girls either," Squid replied. This stopped Chase for a moment. "Ah ha!" Squid said, then he leaned down and hit the last ball, the eighth ball, into the pocket.  
  
"Good game," he said, walking right up next to Chase and holding out his hand. Reluctantly Chase shook it, and from across the room Zippy smiled as she watched them. 


	7. Christina Aguilera's Final Note

"Hey," Friction said, walking into the tent the next day after all the girls were finished digging.  
  
"Friction!" Lei cried, she was halfway through pulling her smelly shirt up over her head.  
  
"What? I've seen all of you in your underwear before-we're all girls here," Friction replied, looking confused.  
  
"Yeah," Lei replied. "But when you open that tent flap while I'm changing a boy could see me!"  
  
"Yeah, but no boy did see you," Friction said.  
  
"Still," Lei pulled her clean shirt over her head.  
  
"Wanna go down to the Wreck room again?" Zippy asked, standing up on her cot. "I bet Squid will be there," she added to Chase.  
  
"And why are you telling me this?" Chase asked.  
  
"Oh please-you can't hide it!" Static said, laughing.  
  
"Hide what?" Chase demanded.  
  
"We saw you with him yesterday," Magnetic said, sitting down on her cot and pulling her clean socks on.  
  
"You two couldn't keep your eyes off each other while you were playing pool!"  
  
"Wait, I'm confused," Friction said. "Are you actually telling me Chase likes a guy?"  
  
"I do not like any guy!" Chase cried. "I was NOT staring at Squid yesterday, and the ONLY reason why I even played pool with him was because YOU guys made me!"  
  
"Wait, is Squid that guy who usually wears the du-rag?" Friction asked. The other girls nodded. "Ooh, he's cute! I wouldn't mind dating him myself Chase."  
  
Chase glared at everyone. "I AM NOT DATING ANYONE!" she cried.  
  
"Well come to the Wreck Room anyway," Zippy said, jumping down from her cot. "It'll be fun-and plus, if you don't come, you'll be stuck here with Rogue."  
  
Rogue, who was lying on her cot again shot Zippy a menacing glance.  
  
"But this time I'm bringin' my CDs," Magnetic said, grabbing her CD case out of her bag in the crate.  
  
When the girls walked into the Wreck Room it was pretty much the same scene as yesterday, only today there were more girls standing about.  
  
The rock music blared throughout the room, making Magnetic flinch, and the sound of the broken TV set only added to the annoyance. But Magnetic pulled a CD out of the case, walked up to the radio, turned the loud racket off (making a lot of the boys complain and call her a bitch), and placed her CD in it. Immediately Christina Aguilera's voice arose above all the noise and Magnetic started dancing.  
  
"Wanna get dirty," Magnetic sang along. None of the boys seemed very thrilled to be listening to Christina Aguilera and most of them still complained. But Magnetic didn't listen; she continued to move her hips in a very hypnotic way, making some of the boys watch her.  
  
Then Lei, not being able to resist a chance to dance, joined Magnetic by the radio. But Lei's body moved more smoothly then Magnetic's as it was in Hawaiian blood.  
  
Soon Armpit seemed to be caught in a trance, staring at Lei with half open eyelids. But all of a sudden the music as did the dancing.  
  
"What the hell!" Magnetic cried. Magnet had turned the music off.  
  
"Don't turn this shit back on," he said, thrusting the CD at Magnetic.  
  
"I can do whatever I want!" Magnetic said, placing the disk back into the boom box.  
  
But Magnet just pulled it back out again.  
  
"Hey man," Squid said, coming up to Magnet and trying to pull him away from Magnetic. But Magnet stayed where he was.  
  
"No man," he said to Squid. "I'm sick and tired of this bitch doing whatever she wants! This isn't her camp!"  
  
"What!" Magnetic cried. "Called me a bitch again and you won't wake up tomorrow!"  
  
"Oh yeah?" Magnet said with a laugh. "And what are you gonna do? Eh? Bore me to death with your stupid bragging?"  
  
Magnetic flung herself at Magnet. Lei and Static had tried to grab her and pull her away from him but they had just missed her arms.  
  
"You're the fucking bastard who came up to me in the shower you jerk!" she said, trying to hurt him as best she could. "You're the one who's been a perverted jerk ever since I got here!"  
  
"Magnetic!" Fidget cried, grabbing Magnetic's flailing arm. But Magnetic was too strong for Fidget, who soon found herself sitting on her backside.  
  
Magnet tried to push Magnetic off of him, but she was using all her weight to pin him down. A big crowd had now formed around the fight, a lot of the boys laughing and cheering them on and a lot of the girls looking worried and trying to pull Magnetic back. Magnetic punched Magnet in the arm but abruptly stopped when she heard a loud breaking sound. The Christina Aguilera CD, that had still been in Magnet's grasp, was now broken in three places-smashed all because she had put to much weight on his arm.  
  
Both of them stared at the shiny pieces of the disk for a few minutes. But then Magnetic, being REALLY pissed off, started whacking Magnet.  
  
"I loved that CD and you broke it!" she screamed hitting him again and again. Magnet did his best to fend off her blows, but she was lying on top of one of his arms, and it was hard to fight with the other. "I'm gonna kill you!" Magnetic screamed. But she never did kill Magnet as she was suddenly lifted up off of him.  
  
Rogue was holding Magnetic around the waist, squeezing her tightly.  
  
"Let go!" Magnetic cried as she flailed her arms and swung her legs, trying to get back at Magnet.  
  
"What the fucking hell is going on here?" Rogue demanded, still grasping Magnetic.  
  
Magnet was helped to his feet by Squid, he wiped a trickle of blood from his lower lip.  
  
"Nothin'," Xray reassured her, but she wasn't stupid.  
  
"Don't look like nothin'," Rogue said.  
  
"Let go of me!" Magnetic cried. "He broke my CD!"  
  
"Your killin' him 'cause he broke your CD?" Rogue asked in a rude tone, she tightened her grip around Magnetic's waist.  
  
"He called me a bitch, he snuck up on me in the shower, he's a god damn jerk-what more do you need to know!" Magnetic yelled.  
  
"Calm down!" Rogue shouted, still squeezing Magnetic tighter.  
  
It took a while, but finally Magnetic's arms and legs stopped flailing. Her breath became calmer and her face turned from bright pink back to it's normal olive tone. Rogue lessened her grip and then let go completely.  
  
Magnetic glared at Magnet for a few minutes before storming past the crowd, out the Wreck Room, Lei, Fidget, and Zippy chasing after her. Static made sure Magnet was okay, before she too left the room.  
  
Rogue glared around at everyone watching her, Xray seemed speechless. "Show's over everyone!" Rogue snapped, and the crowd began to descend and lessen.  
  
Before Rogue left she turned and raised her left eyebrow at Xray who was gaping at her. Then she turned walked quickly out of the Wreck Room.  
  
Chase was left standing there, thinking about what had just happened. She wondered if Magnetic hated Camp Greenlake just as much as she and Rogue did- were they all the outsiders? The other girls had found future boyfriends that they couldn't stop giggling over, but she, Magnetic, and Rogue hadn't found anyone, they were alone here at Camp Greenlake. Chase wondered how long all three of them would last at this camp.  
  
She wanted to leave. 


	8. Nose Bleeds, Bad Bites, and Never Ending...

The morning alarm blared throughout Camp Green Lake the next morning at 4:30. Squid fell out of bed. He had been having an exceptionally weird dream earlier that had involved his mother and a girl who looked familiar but he couldn't place her.  
  
In his dream Squid had been in an odd park he had never seen before. It had been a bright and sunny day but he hadn't felt happy. He had been standing in the middle of this park as small kids ran around and played on the playground equipment. As he had looked around he'd spotted this girl on a tire swing in the distance. She had been a very pretty girl, smiling widely as she had rocked back and forth on the swing. Squid had tried to walk toward her but for some reason he couldn't; it was as if something or someone was pulling him back. Suddenly he began to hear someone sobbing. He had turned to see his mom, sitting at a picnic table, her face in her hands.  
  
"Oh Alan, it's too late, it's just too late," she sobbed, but she didn't seem to be talking to Squid.  
  
As Squid walked toward his mom, wanting to comfort her, he had heard the childish music of an ice cream truck, getting closer and closer. That's when Squid woke up.  
  
He now pulled himself up off the ground, he was a little shaky, and after a moment of standing there looking around as everyone woke up he got ready for the day.  
* * *  
  
Chase wiped tears away from her face. She had woke up crying but she had no memories of what she'd dreamed of.  
  
"Are you okay?" Zippy asked, she was leaning over Chase looking worried.  
  
"Yeah," Chase said, she sat up. Almost all of the D tent girls were already ready and walking out of the tent towards the library.  
  
"I heard you talking in your sleep last night," Zippy said, handing Chase her work clothes.  
  
"Really?" Chase said, her throat was kind of sore and it hurt to talk. "What did I say?"  
  
"Well a lot of it just sounded like gibberish," Zippy replied, sitting on Chase's bed while Chase got dressed.  
  
"But I heard you say things like 'It's too late' and then you were like freaking out and crying while you said stuff like 'I can't reach it!' 'help, i can't get it'. It was really weird and kinda creepy."  
  
"Did anyone else hear me?" Chase asked, tying her hair up into a pony tail.  
  
"Well Rogue heard you, and she got really pissed off," Zippy said.  
  
"Oh," Chase looked around the tent, Rogue had already left.  
  
"Come on," Zippy said, handing Chase her shoes. "Mr. Sir will probably be mad if we're late."  
  
After Chase finished up in the tent the two girls ran over to the library where there were only a few people left in line for their shovels, Squid was one of them.  
  
"Here," he said, handing both Zippy and Chase a shovel when they reached the shovel line.  
  
"Thanks," Zippy said smiling. Then she poked Chase in the ribs with her elbow and grinned.  
  
"Yeah thanks," Chase said sourly.  
  
"Come on Squid," Zippy said. "We gotta get out on the lake before Mr. Sir sees us over here."  
  
Chase was not pleased with the way Zippy was behaving. But she couldn't escape walking out to the lake with Squid, so she had to learn to cope. She let Zippy walk in-between Squid and herself, which Zippy found disappointing. Another thing that Zippy didn't like was Chase never looked at Squid and she only said something when he asked her a question-but her responses were always crude and short.  
  
"So Zippy," Squid said, as they got closer to the place where the rest of D tent was digging. "I've noticed you and Zero spend a lot of time together."  
  
"Yup!" Zippy said, just the mention of Zero seemed to make her shimmer.  
  
"Yeah," Chase said, "she won't shut up about her new boyfriend."  
  
"He's not my boyfriend," Zippy said. "Not yet anyway!" then she added to Chase, "I can't wait, I've been dying to kiss him for ages now!"  
  
Chase shook her head. "Oy vey."  
  
"Nice of you three to join us," Mr. Sir said gruffly. They had reached D tent's digging site and Mr. Sir didn't look too pleased. "What took ya'?" he asked.  
  
"Long line at the Library," Squid replied.  
  
At first they didn't know if Mr. Sir believed their excuse but then he moved on to show each of them where they would dig their hole, without further questioning them about their early absence.  
  
"Hey girls," Friction said late that afternoon. Today she was driving the water truck only, unlike Mr. Pendanski or Mr. Sir, she had the radio turned up full volume. Plus she hung around for a while, refilling everyone's canteens whenever they wanted more water.  
  
"Sexy ladies wanna par wit' us, in da' car wit' us, they naw war wit' us," a couple of the girls, including Friction, sang along with the radio. They were listening to Sean Paul's song "Get Busy".  
  
"Ergh," Chase groaned. She sat down in her hole and let her shovel fall to the ground.  
  
"What's wrong?" Zippy asked.  
  
"Another headache," Chase replied. "It's so hot!"  
  
"Yeah I know," Zippy said, wiping some sweat from her forehead.  
  
Chase stood up for a moment to measure her hole. "Looks like I got about five more inches deep I have to dig," she said. "And like two more inches wide."  
  
"Well you're a lot further than I am," Zippy said, also measuring her hole.  
  
"Hey look!" Lei cried, pointing towards the distant skies. "Rain clouds!"  
  
"Yeah," Friction said, shading her eyes so she could look at the sky. "But those are miles and miles away. We'd need very strong winds to get them to blow over here."  
  
"But there ain't no wind," Twitch said glumly.  
  
"Nuthin' but dust and sunshine," Xray said, wiping his glasses off on his shirt so he could get a clearer view of the distant clouds.  
  
"Aaaaaah!" Lei cried, holding her nose.  
  
"What is it?" Friction asked, running over to Lei's hole.  
  
"I gotta nothe b'eed," Lei said, her voice was weird as she was squeezing her nose.  
  
"Sit in the truck for a little bit; it's cooler in there," Friction said, helping Lei up out of her hole. "Tilt your head back," she said, directing Lei into the old truck. "Here's some kleenex."  
  
"I wanna sit in the truck," Magnetic complained.  
  
"I'll bet you do," Magnet snapped, glaring at her.  
  
Magnetic couldn't think of anything harsh enough to reply with, so she just continued digging.  
  
"I hate it here!" Magnetic cried later that day when they had all finished digging. "Magnet is the STUPIDEST guy it has ever been my displeasure to meet!"  
  
"Haha! 'Displeasure', haha!" Zippy laughed, no one else laughed though.  
  
"So does that mean you aren't gonna come to the Wreck Room with us today?" Fidget asked Magnetic.  
  
"NO WAY!" Magnetic replied  
  
"So you're staying here with Rogue?" Zippy asked.  
  
"Where else would I go?" Magnetic snapped.  
  
So only five girls left the tent and headed out for the Wreck Room (it would have only been four if Zippy hadn't grabbed Chase's hand and pulled her out of the tent).  
  
Zero quickly looked up as soon as the girls walked into the room. "Hey Zippy," he said, making room for her on one of the couches. She gladly sat down next to him.  
  
All the girls moseyed on over to the guys they wanted to talk to. To Chase's relief Squid wasn't in the Wreck Room today. She sat down on a chair and watched as all the other girls laughed and enjoyed themselves.  
  
"Hey babe."  
  
Chase turned around quickly, surprised.  
  
An older looking boy had just sat down next to her, his friends lingering around him.  
  
"Hi," Chase said slowly, she was a little nervous.  
  
"You enjoyin' the scene?" the boy asked.  
  
"No, not really," Chase replied.  
  
"Well that's cool, 'cause I know this scene you'll enjoy a lot."  
  
"Really," Chase said, she wasn't amused. "And where would that 'scene' be?"  
  
"My tent," the boy said, smirking, his friends laughed.  
  
"Oh, well, that sounds great," Chase said. "But I'm not in the mood. Sorry," she said. Then she stood and began to walk over to the other D tent girls.  
  
But the boy grabbed her around the leg before she could go very far.  
  
"Sorry but 'no' isn't an option," he said, holding her tightly, his friends still laughing.  
  
"Let go of me!" Chase demanded. She tried forcing her way away but it was no use; the older boy was too strong.  
  
"What, you're about 15, 16, right?" the boy asked, pulling Chase towards him. His friends nodded. "Good; I like 'em young." He tripped Chase so that she fell on top of him. Then he held one of her arms so that she had trouble getting away. Chase tried her best to get away; she tried kicking him, hitting him, anything she could do with one leg and one arm-but nothing worked.  
  
"Come on babe, give me a kiss," the boy cooed as he held her tight.  
  
Chase struggled, but it didn't help, soon she was mouth to mouth with the stupid boy. Chase had to think fast-think of anything at all that she could do, then suddenly it came to her.  
  
"ARGH!" the boy cried, letting Chase fall to the floor. He pulled back in pain, and his friends jumped away in surprise. The boy's lower lip was ripped, the cut very deep, streaming with blood. Chase had bit him while he had been kissing her, and she hadn't let go of his lip until he had thrown her off of him.  
  
"Chase!" Zippy cried, running over to Chase's side and helping her to her feet. "Are you okay? I'm sooooo sorry! I was over there talking-I didn't see it when it started! I'm so, so sorry-"  
  
"Yeah, okay," Chase said, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. "I'm fine Zip, really."  
  
"He sure ain't fine though," Static said, pointing at the older boy who was now clutching his lip in pain, his friends standing around not sure of what to do.  
  
"THAT'S IT!" Chase cried, marching back to D tent, Zippy chasing after her. "I hate it here! I want out!"  
  
"Chase," Zippy cried. "It'll all get better if you just let it; you don't really want to leave."  
  
"YES I DO!" Chase yelled. "It will NOT get better and i won't let it! I'm just gonna leave!"  
  
"You aren't serious are you?" Zippy asked, she looked worried.  
  
"I am positive." 


	9. Operation Escape

"I'm all for it," Rogue said.  
  
"Me too," Magnetic agreed. The two of them had heard everything Chase had said, and had stepped outside of D tent to consult with her.  
  
Chase raised her eyebrows, at first she didn't know what the two girls were talking about, but soon it came to her.  
  
"Wait," Zippy said, looking surprised. "You mean you two also want to leave?"  
  
"That's right," Rogue said nodding her head.  
  
"What-I-how-" Zippy looked torn.  
  
"Come on in Chase," Magnetic said, holding the tent flap open for her. "Let's talk."  
  
The plans were all made when Lei, Static, and Fidget came back from the Wreck Room. When they saw Rogue sitting next to Magnetic they knew something wasn't right.  
  
"What's going on?" Lei asked, sitting down on her cot.  
  
"We're leaving," Magnetic replied.  
  
"Huh?" Fidget asked, she and Static sat down also.  
  
"We're leaving Camp Greenlake," Rogue replied more clearly. "Tomorrow night."  
  
"What?" the three girls cried.  
  
"But where are you going?" Fidget asked.  
  
Chase shrugged. "Out there," she said, pointing in the direction of the lake.  
  
"Why are you leaving?" Lei asked.  
  
"If you haven't noticed we haven't exactly been having a good time here," Magnetic said.  
  
"But you could die out there!" Zippy cried, after hearing all of the plans she was very upset.  
  
"We'll bring supplies, no worries," Chase reassured her.  
  
"So you guys are just gonna leave?" Static said.  
  
Chase, Magnetic, and Rogue all nodded.  
  
There was silence for a few minutes and then-  
  
"But I don't want you to leave Chase!" Zippy cried.  
  
"I'm really sorry Zip," Chase said, hugging her upset friend. "But I've made up my mind."  
  
"Then I-I want," Zippy didn't seem to be able to make up her mind. "I-Then I'm coming with you."  
  
Chase looked surprised. "But Zip, what about Zero? I thought you liked it here with him?"  
  
Zippy's lower lip trembled. "Well I do," she said. "But if you're leaving then so am I."  
  
"Really?" Rogue asked. "You sure?"  
  
Zippy nodded, though she still didn't seem positive.  
  
"Wait, now all four of you are leaving?" Fidget asked, she looked as if she were going to cry as she fidgeted with her hair; all the D tent girls had known each other for a long time, and most of them had become friends.  
  
"There's room for more," Rogue said, she didn't seem as pissed off today as she normally was. "Any of you three wanna come?"  
  
"I'll come," Static said calmly.  
  
"Static?" Fidget said. "Then I'm gonna go too."  
  
"Well Lei?" Chase said. "What's it gonna be?"  
  
"There is no way I'm sleepin' in this tent all by myself while my girls go and break out of this juvenile camp! I'm in."  
  
Fidget smiled and hugged Lei.  
  
"Okay," Rogue said. "This means we'll need more provisions and stuff."  
  
"How are we gonna take enough food?" Zippy asked, she still looked a little sad but she was getting over it quickly.  
  
"We can pack a lot of that canned food and bread," Lei said.  
  
"Yeah but how are we gonna get it?" Static asked, "They keep all that stuff locked up in the cafeteria."  
  
The girls turned towards Magnetic.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"This will be your chance to prove to us how good of a thief you are!" Chase said, smiling.  
  
"Oh-um-okay," Magnetic said.  
  
"But you have to steal everything tonight, as there won't be any time tomorrow," Rogue said.  
  
"I'll help her!" Zippy said. "I mean I did steal 80 boxes of giant pixie sticks!"  
  
"Yeah," Chase said. "And I'll get the water we need tomorrow when they bring the water truck around."  
  
"It's too bad Friction brought the truck around today and not tomorrow," Lei said.  
  
"Yeah," the girls agreed.  
  
"But no worries," Zippy said. "Chase is fast!"  
  
Chase smiled, finally things were beginning to work out. By tomorrow evening they would be gone. 


	10. That Time of the Month

At 11:45 that night Operation Escape was kicked into action. Magnetic and Zippy snuck across the Green Lake grounds towards the Cafeteria. It was very dark, and hard to see, but it wasn't cold, it was very warm as the two girls quietly made their way up to the Cafeteria doors.  
  
"Locked," Zippy whispered after pushing against the door.  
  
"Just what I expected," Magnetic said. She pulled a credit card out of her pocket and wedged it between the two doors. Then she slid the card downwards towards the lock, which made a loud clicking sound as it came apart. Magnetic yanked her credit card out of the crevice so hard that it broke in two.  
  
"I hope that wasn't an important credit card," Zippy said, studying Magnetic's face.  
  
"No, it was just one of my mom's old ones," Magnetic replied. "I take her old credit cards with me where ever I go, just in case I have to do something like that." She opened the double doors.  
  
"Cool," Zippy said smiling.  
  
Both girls walked into the cafeteria and looked around, they weren't sure where all the food was kept.  
  
"It could be in here," Zippy said, walking up to a door that looked like it could be a closet. She turned the doorknob, it wasn't locked. She slowly opened the door only to jump back in surprise.  
  
The door did not lead to food storage room but to Mr. Sir's office. Mr. Sir had fallen asleep at his desk to the girl's dismay, and now they had to be extra quiet.  
  
"I didn't know Mr. Sir's office was right there," Magnetic said, as Zippy quietly closed the door. "Come on," she said. "I bet you anything the food is back behind there," she pointed to the counters where the food was served, there were a couple of doors back there.  
  
Magnetic climbed over the counters but Zippy walked around them which seemed to be the more practical thing to do.  
  
"Let's see what's behind door number one," Magnetic said, she opened the door. It was a janitor's closet, completely equipped with broom, mop, bucket, and all sorts of other cleaning and fixing tools. "Okay," Magnetic said, closing the door. "So it's not door number one."  
  
They checked the next two doors but didn't find any food.  
  
"Well this is fun," Magnetic said, she was getting annoyed.  
  
"At least we only have two more doors to go," Zippy said, looking on the bright side.  
  
Magnetic, who was getting frustrated, decided to kick the next door open, but soon after realized it hadn't been a good idea. Hundreds of canned goods came crashing to the floor, some flying at Magnetic from their neat stacks and hitting her across the face and body.  
  
"SHHHHHH!" Zippy cried, hurrying to Magnetic's aid. "Are you okay?" she asked, leaning over to help a fallen Magnetic to her feet.  
  
"Yeah," Magnetic said, rubbing a gash on her cheek, right under her left eye. "Well, we found the food," she said, getting to her feet and looking around at all the cans.  
  
They spent the next half hour filling four large backpacks with the cans. By the end of the half hour the bags were so heavy both girls were bent as they carried them across the compound towards D tent.  
  
"Hey Squid," Chase said the next day as she grabbed a shovel out of the Library. If this was going to be her last day at Camp Greenlake she wanted to enjoy it.  
  
"Hey," Squid said slowly, he hadn't expected Chase to talk to him, not yet anyway. "You must be in a good mood," he added as he watched Chase smile around at everyone.  
  
"Oh I'm in a very good mood," Chase replied, turning back to him. "Would you mind escorting me out to the lake?" Chase asked, offering her arm.  
  
"Gladly," Squid said in a confused tone, but he took her arm anyway and the two of them headed out to the dry lake together.  
  
"What're you so happy about?" Squid asked, he knew there had to be a catch; maybe Chase was planning something against him and she was now luring him into a trap?  
  
"Oh nothing," Chase replied. "It's just a beautiful day-" (Squid raised his eyebrows; he was sweating already and he hadn't even started digging yet) "- and I had a wonderful dream last night," Chase lied.  
  
"Really?" Squid asked, he was interested just as Chase had expected him to be. "And what was this wonderful dream about?"  
  
"Well-I dunno," Chase said, faking a shy appearance.  
  
"Go on tell me," Squid said, he was starting to believe Chase's little game.  
  
"But it's embarrassing," Chase said, smiling. But Squid insisted. "Okay," Chase said, turning to him. "You were in it." She stared into his eyes for a minute, then she faked a giggle.  
  
"Really?" Squid said, amused. "And why in your perspective would that be a 'wonderful dream'?"  
  
"I dunno," Chase said, continuing to walk again. "It just was." She smiled at him. "It was amazing," she said. "Fantastic," she giggled again.  
  
Squid furrowed his brow; he was very confused now. He'd never thought he'd see Chase like this, it was like he was talking to a completely different person.  
  
"Well hello there," Mr. Sir said. "Glad you could make it. Now come on." He marked the ground with his boot to show where everyone would be digging their holes.  
  
"Have you noticed anything different about the girls today?" Armpit asked at lunch.  
  
"Hell yeah!" Xray said. "Rogue actually smiled at me!"  
  
"Zippy won't leave me alone," Zero said. "She ALMOST accompanied me to the bathroom!"  
  
"Chase has been acting real nice to me," Squid said, sitting down in the dirt to eat his sandwich."  
  
"I bet I know what it is," Zigzag said. "They all got their period."  
  
"Ew man," Twitch said, wrinkling his nose.  
  
"How could they all get it at the same time?" Xray asked, his mouth full of food.  
  
"Don't ask me I wouldn't know," Zigzag replied. "But there's no other explanation." All the boys looked over at the girls who were grouped together, and when Chase blew Squid a kiss all the boys agreed with Zigzag.  
  
"Oh my god!" Chase said, turning back to the girls and wrinkling her nose. "I have been acting like a drip all day and he's been totally buying it!"  
  
"I know," Rogue said. "Earlier when i just smiled at Xray he practically fainted!" Rogue and Chase, the anti-boyfriend girls, laughed, but the rest didn't.  
  
"I'm tired," Magnetic said yawning.  
  
"I'm not," Fidget said, fidgeting with the chocolate chips from her cookie.  
  
"Well no wonder!" Magnetic said, "You didn't have to go out in the middle of the night last night and break into the cafeteria!"  
  
"Okay," Chase said, her eyes darting around at the scene. "I'm gonna steal the water we need. You guys have to distract Mr. Pendanski and the boys."  
  
"Can do," Lei said.  
  
"Oy! Mr. Pendanski," Lei called as she and the other girls leaded Mr. Pendanski and all the boys away from the water tank. "We wanna talk to you for a second."  
  
Chase snuck around the back of the truck, all the girls canteens, and a few extra Magnetic had stolen, dangled from her neck. She hoped Lei and the other girls voices would drown out the sound of the water pouring into each canteen, as it did make a lot of noise. She started filling canteens immediately.  
  
"We were just wondering what you and Friction were doing yesterday in tent F?" Lei asked, glaring at Mr. Pendanski. Of coarse Mr. Pendanski and Friction hadn't done anything in tent F together the other day, but it was the funniest thing the girls of D tent could think of.  
  
"What?" Mr. Pendanski said, taken aback.  
  
Some of the boys started laughing.  
  
"You heard her," Rogue said. "What the hell were you doin' with Friction?"  
  
"I beg your pardon?" Mr. Pendanski looked shocked.  
  
"We just wanted to remind you Mr. Pendanski that you're like twenty years older than Friction," Magnetic said, she was a lot taller than Mr. Pendanski, making her seem a lot more threatening to him than the other girls.  
  
"I don't understand," Mr. Pendanski said. "I didn't do anything with Friction yesterday in the tent."  
  
"Oh sure, deny it," Static said. "But we know you're lying; Zippy saw both of you."  
  
Zippy nodded.  
  
Chase had three canteens filled and hidden in the nearest hole, but she still had eight more to go.  
  
"I swear I didn't do anything with Sarah, Zippy must have seen wrong."  
  
"Oh, and when have you started calling Friction by her real name?" Lei asked.  
  
"Wha-" Mr. Pendanski looked helpless.  
  
Five canteens filled, six more to go.  
  
"So the truth comes out doesn't it Mr. Pendanski," Fidget said.  
  
"I don't know what you girls are talking about," Mr. Pendanski said, turning towards his truck.  
  
"Wait!" Lei cried. "We were just messin' with ya' when we said all that stuff."  
  
Mr. Pendanski raised his eyebrows.  
  
Seven filled, four to go.  
  
"Well okay," Mr. Pendanski said, confused. Then he got into his truck and started the engine.  
  
"Wait!" Fidget cried, running up to Mr. Pendanski. "We just wanted to apologize for all that. I mean we were just joking around at the time but now we see that all of this has caused you some distress."  
  
"Okay..............." Mr. Pendanski said. "That's nice. I've got to go now Allie, so I would appreciate it if you would step away from the car; wouldn't want you to get hurt now."  
  
"Oh that is so sweet!" Fidget said. "Tears!"  
  
Mr. Pendanski nodded his head in confusion, then he drove off.  
  
"Well?" Lei asked Chase, who was now standing up, her hands on her hips.  
  
She winked.  
  
So far Operation Escape was a success. 


	11. Reluctant Goodbyes

"We have to divide the cans up equally and put them in our bags," Chase said. It was 6:30 and all the D tent girls were sitting on the floor in there tent, the cans, backpacks, and canteens spread out in the middle of the circle they had formed.  
  
"There are 72 cans," Static said after counting them all. "That means that each of us is gonna have to have 10 cans in our bags, but 2 people are gonna have 11 cans."  
  
"I'll take 11," Chase said, grabbing eleven cans and stuffing them at the bottom of her backpack.  
  
"I'll take 11 also," Rogue said, and the girls all began packing the cans into their bags.  
  
"How are we gonna open the cans though?" Zippy asked. "I mean it's not like any of us packed a can opener."  
  
"We'll need a knife," Chase said.  
  
"How are we gonna get a knife?" Lei asked. "There's no way the Warden would just be like 'Oh sure girls, here's me finest knife'. And we don't have enough time for Magnetic to steal one."  
  
"I have a knife," Rogue said, pulling a small pocket knife out of her backpack. "I hid it when Mr. Sir checked our bags," she added, seeing the confused faces of the girls around her.  
  
"Where'd you hide it?" Zippy asked.  
  
Rogue pointed at her mouth.  
  
"Well that's pleasant," Magnetic said.  
  
"How are we gonna carry all the canteens?" Fidget asked, pointing at the eleven filled canteens.  
  
"Well everyone will carry their own," Chase replied. "And then the stronger people will have to carry two I guess."  
  
"That's me," Magnetic said, grabbing for two of the canteens.  
  
Rogue, Chase, and Lei also took another canteen.  
  
The girls also packed bed sheets, a few extra clothes, and some of there most prized possessions. For instance; Lei packed her fake hibiscuses as it reminded her of home and her Hawaiian mother; Fidget packed a set of gel pens as she always loved doodling; and Zippy packed her stuffed version of Stitch-though she had trouble packing it, and ended up with a very heavy backpack (when she put the straps over her shoulders she nearly toppled over backwards).  
  
"I'll take some of the cans out of your backpack," Chase offered.  
  
"That's okay, I'm fine," Zippy said.  
  
"But I don't have anything other than cans and sheets in my bag," Chase persuaded. Finally Zippy gave in, and they added five more cans to Chase's bag.  
  
"I'm gonna be so tired tomorrow morning aren't I?" Magnetic grumbled.  
  
"Don't worry," Chase said. "We won't go too far tonight."  
  
"What are you doing?" Fidget asked Zippy, who was bent over a piece of paper writing quickly.  
  
"I'm just writing a letter to Zero," Zippy said, a little shyly.  
  
"What?" a lot of the girls cried.  
  
"Don't worry," Zippy said. "He won't find it in like a day or two."  
  
"But Zippy," it's still not a very good idea," Lei said.  
  
"I just want to say goodbye," Zippy said. "Geez!"  
  
"Alright Zip," Chase said. "You can write him a letter but ONLY if you're saying goodbye."  
  
Zippy smiled.  
  
* * *  
  
Chase sat up in bed.  
  
"Eleven o'clock," she said, looking at the little alarm clock she had put on the floor beside her bed. "Time to wake up!"  
  
"Already?" Magnetic moaned, she was still half asleep.  
  
"Yeah!" Zippy said, jumping out of bed. "Come on guys!"  
  
"At least we don't have to wake up at 4:30 tomorrow," Lei said, slowly getting up.  
  
It took all of the girls a while to get up (especially Magnetic), but when everyone was fully awake there was no problem, as everything was already packed and ready to go.  
  
"Come on," Chase said, putting her backpack on and opening the tent flap. Before anyone left the tent though Chase looked around outside, scouting the area, making sure no one was around. When there was no one in sight she gave the clear to the other girls and they all headed out to the lake.  
  
"This is so exciting!" Fidget said, her teeth were chattering even though it definitely wasn't cold out.  
  
"I'll miss Zigzag," Static said.  
  
"I'll miss Zero," Zippy said, pouting.  
  
"I'll really miss Twitch!" Fidget said.  
  
"I'll miss all of them," Lei agreed. "They were cool."  
  
"Well I'll miss none of them," Rogue snapped.  
  
Chase didn't say anything. Her first thought was the same as Rogue's but then she felt a little bit sad. Would she actually miss Camp Green Lake? 


	12. When the Realization Hits

"Hand me a shovel would ya'?" Squid said to Zigzag at the Library the next day.  
  
"Here," Zigzag said, taking two shovels out of the Library and handing one to Squid. "Hey have you seen Static today?"  
  
"Naw, why?" Squid asked.  
  
"I dunno," Zigzag replied. "It's just she always gets here early, and well- "  
  
"Don't worry," Squid said. "I'm sure she's fine, just a little late is all."  
  
Zigzag nodded.  
  
But when the two boys reached the lake together they didn't find Static-or any of the other girls for that matter.  
  
"Hey, have you guys seen Zippy?" Zero asked, as he dug his shovel into the dirt.  
  
"Nope," Zigzag said, looking perplexed.  
  
"Maybe today's a day that all the girls have to have like a talk with the Warden, or Friction, or something," Armpit said.  
  
The other boys all agreed-that is until the frail girl with the sunken eyes from A tent walked by with a couple of her friends.  
  
"Maybe it's just the D tent girls that have to go to a meeting or something," Xray said, watching the dark looking girl and her friends pass.  
  
"Wake up! Come on you guys we have to get moving!" Chase cried as all the other girls slept-even Zippy was beat.  
  
The D tent girls had all walked until 3:00 that morning, where they had stopped and rested. At three in the morning the girls couldn't quite see their surroundings and they had all supposed that they had crossed the borders of Camp Green Lake. But now the bright sunshine revealed that they hadn't passed the Green Lake border, as they were still surrounded by a bunch of holes.  
  
"Come on everyone!" Chase said. She grabbed Zippy's feet and started pulling her away from the sheets.  
  
"What!" Zippy cried groggily.  
  
"Come on! Chop chop!" Chase yelled. A bunch of the girls groaned.  
  
But soon everyone was up and walking again.  
  
"Get this party started!" Fidget said, singing along with Pink as they walked under the hot sun a couple hours later.  
  
No one had seen her pack her Walkman, and now most of the girls were jealous that they hadn't brought theirs.  
  
"Well it's not that great," Fidget had said earlier when she had pulled her walkman out of her bag and all the other girls had gone ballistic. "I didn't bring any other batteries and these ones are almost out of juice." Then she had started playing with the batteries before replacing them in her walkman.  
  
Now Magnetic glared at her as she sang along with Joe Budden's "Pump It Up".  
  
"I'm thirsty," Zippy said, stopping to rest for a second.  
  
"You were thirsty a few minutes ago!" Magnetic snapped, she was getting annoyed.  
  
"Calm down Magnetic," Lei said. "I wanna break too."  
  
While the girls were resting Chase looked out at the desert before them, she was very anxious to get going again.  
  
"What's that?" she cried out suddenly.  
  
"What?" the girls said jumping.  
  
But the figure Chase had seen had now disappeared behind the haze. Chase had seen a mountain, but it was a very peculiar mountain that reminded Chase of a fist with the thumb sticking out. She decided to change their direction just a little bit so they would end up at the mountain-she didn't know why, she just like the idea of actually having a destination rather than just roaming the desert with out a clue.  
  
"Hey, guys," Friction said when she pulled up with there lunch. "Ummm..........Where are the girls?"  
  
"What?" Magnet said. "We thought they were with you?"  
  
Friction shook her head. "No, I haven't seen them all day-did you guys see them?"  
  
The boys shook their heads.  
  
Friction looked worried. "I'm gonna go check their tent-tell me if you see them." And with that she left-without giving the boys their lunches.  
  
"I haven't seen them anywhere," Friction cried. She'd spent three hours looking for the girls all over Camp Greenlake and she hadn't found anything. She now sat before the Warden in the Warden's cabin. "I'm really worried," Friction said, she looked very stressed out.  
  
"Well where could they possibly be?" the Warden said, shaking her head. "I mean that many people wouldn't just run away or anything-"  
  
Friction sat up so quickly she almost knocked down one of the Warden's nice vases.  
  
"What?" the Warden asked. "You don't think they all ran away do you?"  
  
"That has to be it," Friction said. "I mean, there's no other explaination- but I can't see why all of them would leave. I mean Rogue and Chase didn't really like it here-and if they both wanted to leave then Zippy would want to go with Chase-I guess they all just wanted to stick together. Wow." She stopped for a moment, thought over it all, then- "WE HAVE TO GO AFTER THEM! They'll die out there!"  
  
"Lady, we can't go after them," the Warden said, she seemed to be annoyed with Friction. "If you haven't noticed we still have an entire camp here we have to run."  
  
"Well we don't all have to go," Friction said. "I could go by myself!"  
  
"We wouldn't miss you," the Warden mumbled under her breath.  
  
"Wait," Mr. Pendanski cried, walking into the Warden's cabin, he'd obviously been eavesdropping. "It would probably be best if someone accompanied Sarah when she goes out there," he said.  
  
"And why would that be?" the Warden asked. "Ms. Woods seems like a very strong resourceful woman to me."  
  
Mr. Pendanski stumbled for words for a moment. "Well-erm-yes, she is very strong and resourcful-but-well-um-you know the whole idea of the-erm- journey seems a little-um-precarious, doesn't it? Ms. Woods would probably be better off with some help-not to mention company." He ended there looking relieved.  
  
"But Dr. Pendanski," the Warden said, narrowing her eyes. "We need you to help with the water truck, and D tent; you are their councilor you know."  
  
Mr. Pendanski nodded. "But Lou, you still have Mr. Sir to drive the water truck-it would do him some good, he sits on his ass all the time now while Sarah and I deliver the water."  
  
The Warden considered this. "And you would take Ms. Woods' truck?" she asked.  
  
Friction nodded.  
  
"Alright then," the Warden said. "But I want those girls back soon because if this gets out their parents will have my head for this."  
  
Friction smiled. It was settled then. 


	13. When Do We Leave?

"Guys, you won't believe what I just heard!" Magnet said, running into D tent. "I was outside the Warden's cabin and I heard Friction say that the girls ran away!"  
  
"What?" the other boys cried.  
  
"No more Magnetic!" Magnet said happily.  
  
"No more Fidget," Twitch said sadly.  
  
"Oh so that's why they were all acting weird the other day," Squid said. "I knew something was up!"  
  
"All the girls left?" Armpit asked.  
  
"Yup," Magnet replied.  
  
"That means Rogue left!" Xray said, disappointedly.  
  
"Well that's no surprise," Zigzag said sarcastically.  
  
"Where'd they go?" Zero asked.  
  
"I dunno?" Magnet replied. "Out there I guess," he pointed in the direction of the lake.  
  
"Couldn't they die out there?" Twitch asked.  
  
Squid shrugged his shoulders. "They're really smart Twitch, I wouldn't worry too much if I were you."  
  
"But-why'd Zippy leave?" Zero asked, he looked hurt.  
  
"Friction said that the only reason Zippy would leave is 'cause her best friend Chase wanted to leave," Magnet said.  
  
"That bitch," Squid said, cringing at Chase's name. "She was totally playin' with me the other day." He shook his head, "And I actually fell for it!"  
  
"But I never even got to kiss Zippy!" Zero said, pouting.  
  
"No more Magnetic!" Magnet repeated, lying down on his cot, smiling. "But it kinda' sucks Lei, Zippy, and Chase had to leave; they were hot!"  
  
"I liked Lei," Armpit said, frowning.  
  
"Rogue!" Xray cried out again.  
  
"I didn't really like any of them," Squid said sourly. "I mean Magnetic was kinda' hot but Olivia beats Magnetic in my book any day!"  
  
"I didn't really get anywhere with Zippy!" Zero cried.  
  
"ROGUE!"  
  
"I don't feel sorry for them," Squid said. "I mean at least they're out there while we're stuck here."  
  
Zigzag sat up really quickly.  
  
"What if we went out there!" he said.  
  
"Then we wouldn't be stuck here," Squid replied coldly.  
  
"No, I mean we could really leave like the girls did!" Zigzag replied, he looked a lot happier now. "Maybe we could catch up to the girls and-"  
  
"You mean you want us to go out there?" Armpit said, nodding towards the desert beyond Camp Green Lake.  
  
"Well yeah, if you wanna see Lei again and get out of this prison," Zigzag replied.  
  
"I'm all for it," Twitch said, smiling.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa-wait a second," Squid said, slowing everything down. "How would you survive if you went out there?"  
  
"I dunno, we could pack some food and bring our filled canteens and stuff," Zigzag said shrugging.  
  
"Yeah," Xray said. "I can see this happening!"  
  
"Well I can see all you guys dying of starvation and yellow spotted lizards out there," Squid said.  
  
"Oh come on man," Xray said. "You were the one who wanted to get out of here. Well, here's your chance."  
  
Squid looked around at all the eager faces watching him.  
  
"And what happens when my mom finds out I left?" he asked. "I can't do that to her!"  
  
"Yeah but what happens when you show up on her doorstep?" Xray asked.  
  
"You don't know that I'll live long enough to get back home," Squid said.  
  
"Yeah but man, don't tell me you don't want to have a little fun at this time of your life?" Xray raised his eyebrows.  
  
Squid considered this for a moment then smiled. "When do we leave?" 


	14. Shocking Surprises

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"  
  
"What the hell?" Rogue cried, sitting up. It was late at night and everyone had been sleeping when they'd been rudely awakened by the scream.  
  
"What is it?" Chase asked urgently.  
  
"A rattle snake!" Mangnetic cried, standing up and pulling her sheets back. Sure enough a rattle snake lay coiled on the ground hissing at her.  
  
All the girls jumped to there feet, some of them screaming with fright.  
  
"Okay, maybe if we just walk away it'll go away," Chase said.  
  
All the girls began to back up, staring with wide eyes as the snake began to uncoil itself.  
  
"What if it bites one of us?" Magnetic barely squeaked.  
  
"It won't bite one of us," Chase replied, but she did sound a little worried.  
  
They all stood there, staring, barely breathing as the snake watched them. Finally the snake began slithering away, proved that he was in no danger. All the girls let there breath out slowly. The incident with the snake reminded the girls that they had to be more careful out here in the desert, as there were more dangers out here than rattle snakes. The term 'Yellow Spotted Lizards' hadn't crossed their minds when they had been planning their escape, and now there were a little wary about continuing. But they had all gone too far now to turn back.  
  
"So what now?" Magnetic cried, her eyes darting around everywhere. "What if one of us gets bitten by a yellow spotted lizard?"  
  
Static shrugged. "Well then if one of us gets bitten by a yellow spotted lizard then there's one less person to feed."  
  
"We'll just have to be more careful now," Chase said, ignoring Static.  
  
But that didn't seem to reassure Magnetic at all.  
  
Squid walked into the tent later that day after he'd taken his shower.  
  
"Everything ready?" he asked.  
  
The rest of the D tent boys, who were in the tent preparing to leave, nodded.  
  
"Pretty much," Xray said, going back over the cans of food Magnet had stolen the night before.  
  
The boys had filled all their canteens but, unlike the girls, they hadn't thought of stealing more to bring. The boys hadn't really thought of bringing sheets to sleep on, but some of the boys had brought along some of their precious belongings. For instance; Squid packed a rubber octopus, Zigzag brought a TV guide from March 22, 1998, and Armpit brought his old catcher's mitt.  
  
The boys had planned to leave in the middle of the night and continue until early in the morning. They wanted to walk as much as possible each day to catch up to the girls (that wasn't Squid's idea), as most of the boys were dying to see the girls they'd been falling for.  
  
"I hope we do catch up to them," Zero said. "What if we die before we see them again?" He got up and walked over to his crate. When he pulled his backpack out of it a small envelope fell to the floor. He picked it up and opened it.  
  
"It's from Zippy!" he cried. The other boys looked up confused.  
  
"Huh?" Armpit grunted.  
  
Zero held up the letter in his hands so the boys could see what he was talking about. "She said that she was really sorry but she's leaving for good," he read slowly as his reading wasn't completely polished yet. "She said something about Chase but-but I can't read it very well-"  
  
Squid shot up and grabbed the letter from Zero, nearly ripping it in two.  
  
"Ooh!" Xray laughed. "So much for Chase bein' a bitch, eh?"  
  
Squid flipped Xray off but couldn't help feeling a little sheepish. He read the letter but to his dismay it only mentioned Chase once:  
  
Hey Zero,  
  
I'm really sorry about all this but I have to leave. I'll miss you a lot-A LOT!!!! Tell Squid that Chase says hi; "Hi!!!!!" And tell everyone else that all of us miss them too (but i don't miss them more than i miss you!!!! hehe)! I really, REALLY wanna see you again!  
  
Well, I have to go now...................bye  
  
Zippy  
  
P.S: I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Squid put the letter down-there hadn't been enough about Chase for him to really care about it.  
  
"Well at least now i know Zippy REALLY loves you Zero," he said with sarcasm.  
  
The other boys laughed as they too looked at the letter before Zero could snatch it back.  
  
"SHE LOVES YOU SHE LOVES YOU SHE LOVES YOU!!!!" Armpit laughed.  
  
Zero grabbed the letter and put it in his pocket.  
  
"Well at least she wrote me a letter, I don't see a letter from Rogue," Zero said.  
  
Xray stopped laughing, and the rest of the boys continued packing while Zero read his letter over and over again.  
  
That night the boys woke up at 12:00, though it took all the boys a long time to get out of bed and get ready to leave.  
  
"All set?" Zigzag asked groggily as he stood beside the tent flap.  
  
"No," Squid said, he was having second thoughts about leaving.  
  
"Come on!" the other boys whined.  
  
Squid sat there on his cot for a few minutes thinking.  
  
"The longer you wait the further away Chase gets!" Xray preside.  
  
But this didn't make Squid get up yet. Finally when all the boys began leaving the tent (Zero first), Squid got up and left. As they were walking he turned back and took one last glance at Camp Greenlake. 


	15. Survival Lesson 1: Always Look at the E...

"Where exactly are we going?" Magnetic asked, she was tired of walking and wanted to rest.  
  
"To that big thumb up there," Chase said.  
  
The girls stared at her as if she were mad.  
  
"There's this mountain up there," Chase said. "And it looks like a thumb."  
  
"And why are we going there?" Lei asked.  
  
Chase shrugged her shoulders. "We need somewhere to go," she said.  
  
"Can we eat now?" Zippy asked, her stomach had been growling for a while now.  
  
"Yeah!" the other girls agreed.  
  
They pulled one of the cans out of Fidget's backpack and Rogue opened it with her knife. The girls wrinkled their noses as the smell of canned beans filled the air.  
  
"God, do we have to eat that stuff?" Magnetic asked.  
  
"Well, if you're hungry," Static said, she then scooped some of the beans out of the can with her fingers and reluctantly ate it.  
  
The other girls watched her, waiting for her reaction.  
  
But Static didn't look too thrilled and as soon as she'd swallowed the beans she quickly grabbed for her canteen.  
  
"They're that bad?" Fidget asked.  
  
"They're worse!" Static said. "Ah! Sick! How can those Green Lake boys live on this crap?"  
  
The other girls stared at the can in horror; they were all very hungry but they didn't want to risk death!  
  
"God I think I'm gonna be sick!" Static said. "How old are those?"  
  
"The supply truck did come a long time ago," Lei said.  
  
"Oh great," Chase said. "No showers, no food, and a bunch of ugly lizards that can kill us!"  
  
"Well it was your idea to leave!" Static said.  
  
"Was not!" Chase argued. "This whole plan was Rogue's and Magnetic's!"  
  
"Oh blame me?" Magnetic said, she was really annoyed now. "We wouldn't have thought up this stupid plan if you hadn't started yelling about wanting to leave Green Lake!"  
  
"YOU GUYS!!!!" Zippy yelled. "Come on, we have to get going. You're wasting time with your stupid arguing!"  
  
Chase glared at Magnetic for a second then continued walking.  
  
"Just eat the damn beans!" Zigzag said, holding the can in Zero's face.  
  
But Zero just pushed Zigzag's hand away. "How old are those?" he asked, wrinkling his nose.  
  
"Who cares?" Armpit asked, taking a handful of the beans.  
  
"They'll probably kill us," Squid said. "But who cares, if we don't die from expired beans we'll die from yellow spotted lizards or no water or something." He too ate some of the beans.  
  
"I wonder what Zippy's doing right now?" Zero asked.  
  
"Oh they're probably all laughing at how they fooled us that day that they left," said Squid.  
  
"Man, get over it," Magnet said as he swallowed some beans.  
  
"No," Zero said, "I wonder where they are. Was the point of this trip to catch up to the girls?"  
  
"YES," Zigzag said quickly.  
  
"No, it was to get out of that hell hole," said Squid.  
  
"Literally," Armpit said and laughed at himself. No one else did.  
  
"Squid, we all know that you wanna find Chase," Xray said, nudging Squid. "Don't hide it, you know you want to."  
  
Squid shoved him back. "Don't touch me!" he said as Xray shoved him back. Back and forth, went the shoving until Zero stuck himself in between Xray and Squid.  
  
"Dude! We're wasting time!" he said, trying to break the two apart.  
  
Squid glared at Zero for a moment before he turned away and continued walking. 


	16. Surviving the Wilderness

Zippy was dragging her feet across the ground when she looked up and stopped.  
  
About a mile away, laying on the ground, was a dark figure-possibly a dead animal? But Zippy couldn't think of any animal that size that would live in the desert.  
  
"What's that?" she asked, pointing towards the figure.  
  
"Could be a dead body?" Magnetic said, squinting so she could see through the haze. "Maybe it's the body of a boy who tried to escape Camp Green Lake before?"  
  
"Ew!" Lei squealed.  
  
"I bet its covered in rats and bugs!" Magnetic said laughing.  
  
"Well actually rats wouldn't live out here," Static replied logically. "But it's definitly covered in flies and maggots if it is a dead body."  
  
"Ew!" It was Magnetic's turn to squeal. "I hate flies AND maggots!"  
  
"Then why the hell did you bring up the subject?" Lei asked.  
  
"Would you guys just please SHUT UP!" Chase said.  
  
"It's not a dead body!" Zippy said, she was closest to the dark figure now. "It looks kinda' like a big log or something?"  
  
"Exciting," Chase said sarcastically.  
  
Zippy started running towards the figure.  
  
"How the hell can she run now?" Magnetic asked, wiping some sweat away from her forhead.  
  
"It's a boat!" Zippy called back as she got closer and closer to the 'dead body'.  
  
"A boat?" Fidget said, she started playing with the batteries from her Walkman that had lost all their juice hours ago. "I guess this place really was a lake a long time ago."  
  
"There better not be a skeleton in that boat," Lei said.  
  
"Depends how long the boats been here," Static said.  
  
"It says Mary Lou on it!" Zippy said. She had now reached the boat and was walking around it, studying it.  
  
"I wonder who Mary Lou was?" Lei asked.  
  
"Must have been someone important," Static said.  
  
"God, did you just get like really smart all of a sudden or something?" Lei asked, she was getting annoyed and anxious.  
  
"I wish I had a boat named after me," Magnetic said.  
  
"All you have to do is wait until Magnet gets his boat permit!" Fidget said laughing.  
  
Magnetic flipped her off.  
  
"Someone go under the boat," Lei said; all the girls had reached the boat and were now standing around it, staring. "Zippy, you go under; your small."  
  
Zippy shook her head. "I'll go in after YOU go in," she said.  
  
"Oh my god, you guys are pathetic!" Rogue pushed everyone aside and crawled under the boat. "No dead body!" she called out to them.  
  
Lei sighed in relief.  
  
"Aw, it's nice down here," Rogue said.  
  
"Move out of my way!" Zippy cried, then she too crawled under the boat. "Chase, it's really nice and cool down here! Come on!"  
  
Chase crawled under the boat next. It wasn't that big of a boat, but it was a cozy fit. There were a bunch of jars all over the ground beneath the boat, filled with some kind of brown matter.  
  
"Sick, what is this stuff?" Rogue said, picking up one of the jars and sniffing it. "Smells nasty!"  
  
"Must've been down here for like a hundred years or so," Chase said, picking up one of the jars and examining it. "Zippy no!"  
  
But too late. Zippy had opened one of the jars and had taken a big gulp of the matter inside it.  
  
"Damn girl, you're crazy!" Rogue said, wrinkling her nose.  
  
"MMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Zippy cried. "Here Chase!" she forced the open jar into Chase's hands.  
  
"Hell no!" Chase cried.  
  
"It's delicious!" Zippy said. "Tastes like-like-" she grabbed the jar back and took another gulp. "PEACHES!"  
  
"Zippy, you can't eat this stuff," Chase said. "Who knows what kind of bactiria and stuff's in it?"  
  
"What's going on down there?" Magnetic called.  
  
"Eat it!" Zippy cried. "It's WAY better than beans!"  
  
"No Zippy," Chase said.  
  
Both the girls turned suddenly when they heard the sound of breaking glass beside them.  
  
Rogue had broken one of the jars and was now drinking the liquid. "That's good," she said. "Here Chase," she handed the jar to Chase. "Don't worry," she added, seeing the nervous look on Chase's face. "It won't have bacteria and stuff in it 'cause it was sealed shut-unlike the one Zippy ate out of."  
  
Zippy frowned, "Oh now you tell me."  
  
Chase took a sip from the jar. "Wow," she said. "It does taste like peaches."  
  
"See," Zippy said grinning.  
  
"Did you guys die down there or something?" Magnetic called down to them.  
  
"Shut up would you?" Rogue yelled back up at her. "We're relaxin' down here."  
  
"I wanna come down!" Magnetic cried.  
  
But there was no room for her when she tried crawling under the boat.  
  
"Go away," Rogue said, taking another sip of the peach matter.  
  
Magnetic scowled, and reluctanly crawled back out.  
  
"Come on guys," Chase said, begining to crawl out of the boat herself.  
  
"What about all the Sploosh?" Zippy said.  
  
Chase and Rogue both stared at her.  
  
"Sploosh?" Rogue asked.  
  
"Sploosh," Zippy repeated, grinning, she picked up one of the jars.  
  
"We'll take it with us," Chase said. She unzipped her backpack and started filling the last empty space with 'Sploosh'.  
  
"But we won't tell any of the other girls about it!" Zippy said, laughing.  
  
Chase narrowed her eyes and Zippy grinned sheepishly.  
  
"What's that?" Zero said suddenly, and pointing to a mountain that resembled a fist with a thumb sticking up.  
  
Twitch managed to form a fist with his twitching hand and stuck his thumb out. "I think it's a mountain," he said.  
  
"Where are we going?" Zero asked.  
  
"I dunno... We're just walking until we find the girls," Xray said.  
  
"Let's go to that mountain then," Zero suggested. "It's pretty hard to miss, and the girls are probably heading for it too."  
  
Xray shrugged. "What do you think, guys?" Xray asked the rest of the boys.  
  
"If the ladies are there, so am I!" Magnet said.  
  
"Static..." Zigzag mumbled.  
  
"Let's go towards the Big Thumb!!" Armpit shouted and started walking towards it. The boys followed.  
  
"Hey, Squid," Zero said. He and Squid were falling behind.  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"You should ask Chase out," Zero said, smiling.  
  
"And I'm taking advise from YOU?" Squid snapped, then lowered his voice. "What did Zippy say?"  
  
"Huh? Why are you asking about Zippy?"  
  
"NEVER MIND! Who thinks that I should ask Chase out?" Squid's voice got a little louder.  
  
"I do," Zero said as-a-matter-of-factly. "Don't tell me you've never thought of it. You're just afraid she's gonna say no."  
  
"I know she's gonna say no. So shut up. She and the rest of the girls are probably long gone by now."  
  
Zero looked hurt. He ran ahead to the rest of the boys.  
  
They were moving more quickly now, towards Big Thumb.  
  
"I wonder what's up there?" Magnet said.  
  
"A house full of girls wearing bikinis and waiting for us," Zigzag said as he laughed. The image kept him alive and walking.  
  
They moved closer and closer to the foot of the mountains.  
  
"Lets stop right here for the night," Chase said. The girls had walked for five hours since they had stopped at the boat, and everyone was very tired now.  
  
The girls spread out the sheets (after Magnetic made sure there were no rattle snakes or yellow spotted lizards in the area) and sat down.  
  
"I wonder what the boys are doing now?" Lei said, looking up at the starry night sky.  
  
"Sleeping," Chase said, closing her eyes as she lay back on one of the sheets.  
  
"I wonder how our leaving affected everyone?" Static mused to herself.  
  
"I bet they're all fine," Chase said.  
  
"I wonder what Friction did when she found out we left?" Fidget said.  
  
"She probably cried about it for one day then forgot about it," Chase said.  
  
"Geez Chase, we knew you didn't like boys but Friction..........?" Zippy said.  
  
"I wonder if the Warden told our parents?" Lei asked. Then she lay on her stomach, closed her eyes, and said a prayer in her native tongue.  
  
"I bet my mom's SO upset!" Magnetic said. "She's probably crying right now!"  
  
"I bet the Warden didn't tell any of our parents," Chase said. "She wouldn't want to risk her job."  
  
"So no one really knows we're gone?" Fidget said, she suddenly stopped fidgeting.  
  
"No one but the people at Camp Green Lake," Chase replied.  
  
The girls were silent as they thought this over and started falling to sleep.  
  
Zippy held Stitch close to her. "Goodnight Zero," she whispered. 


	17. Searching For D Tent

"I cannot believe the boys left also!" Friction cried. She and Mr. Pendanski were sitting in her truck as they drove across the desert. They had been driving for a day now, each taking turns at the wheel while the other one slept. The problem was they didn't know which way either the boys or the girls had gone. So their plan was to just search the desert area around Camp Green Lake first, as the D tent kids couldn't have gone that far. If they didn't find anyone, though, they would search the desert beyond the Green Lake area.  
  
"I hope we find them soon," Friction said. For the last two days she had done nothing but worry about the girls and boys.  
  
"Don't worry, Sarah," Mr. Pendanski would always reply. "I'm sure we'll find them soon."  
  
"I hope so," Friction replied. "If we don't I'll-AHHH!" Friction's pick up truck swerved violently as it just barely missed a hole.  
  
"Whoa," Mr. Pendanski said as soon as the truck slowed down again; he was clinging to his seat like a cat.  
  
"Sorry about that," Friction said, then she started laughing. "That was fun!"  
  
"Yeah, sure-" Mr. Pendanski said, he hadn't found anything very fun about it. "Just don't do it again."  
  
"We're so close!" Fidget cried, pointing up at Big Thumb.  
  
"Not really?" Magnetic said, looking on the negative side again.  
  
"No we actually are close," Static said, staring up at the mountain. "Maybe just one more day or so?"  
  
"A whole 'nother day?" Magnetic whined. "I'M GONNA GO CRAZY!!!!!"  
  
"I think she already is crazy," Zippy whispered to Chase.  
  
"Well if you ran there it would take less then a day," Fidget said to Magnetic.  
  
Magnetic glared at her. "I'll run as soon as you start running."  
  
Fidget didn't start running.  
  
The girls walked for about two more hours before they had to stop and rest again.  
  
"We can't stop and rest now!" Zigzag said.  
  
"I'm tired," Armpit said sitting down on a rock.  
  
"Me too," Twitch said, he wasn't as excited as he'd been when they'd started out.  
  
"Just think about Fidget, and Lei!" Zigzag urged.  
  
But none of the boys listened to him, they were all beat. But it wasn't a wonder why, as they had all been walking for seven and a half hours straight.  
  
"I wonder what the girls are all doing now?" Xray asked himself.  
  
"Wouldn't it suck if we had walked all this way trying to catch up to the girls but they had already been killed by yellow spotted lizards?" Twitch asked.  
  
"Well, yeah," Squid said.  
  
"Man, I can just imagine Static's sexy body, lying next to me in the sand, on this tropical island in the Caribbean," Zigzag said, sitting down on the ground. "Her skin so soft, her lips so lush-"  
  
"Her hair so frizzy!" Zero said, laughing.  
  
"And when we kiss......" Zigzag said ignoring Zero.  
  
"Would you shut up?" Squid snapped.  
  
"Haha! It's funny how before the girls got here we were all upset that girls would be comeing to our camp," Zero said.  
  
"I was never upset about girls coming to our camp," Xray said.  
  
"Yeah you were," Squid replied. "You were all worried they'd all be annoying."  
  
"And Zigzag was worried they'd be fat girls with head gear," Zero continued.  
  
"Don't forget the cow bells," Zigzag said.  
  
"I was never upset about girls coming to our camp," Magnet said, grinning. "But then, I met Magnetic." He wrinkled his nose in disgust.  
  
"Hahaha!" Magnetic started laughing suddenly.  
  
"What's so funny?" Zippy asked.  
  
"Oh just the image of Magnet being bitten by a yellow spotted lizard," Magnetic replied.  
  
Zippy rolled her eyes. 


	18. One More Jar of Sploosh Beneath God's Th...

"I think the Sploosh is getting to me," Zippy said, kneeling over and clutching her stomach.  
  
"Zippy?" Chase said, running up to Zippy's side. "Are you okay? Come on we're almost there."  
  
But Zippy didn't stand back up and she sat there gasping for breath, her arms wrapped around her stomach.  
  
After a minute or two though Zippy was back on her feet, though now she walked slower, her back bent.  
  
"I'm okay," she reassured Chase, who walked beside her. But Zippy seemed a little dazed when she talked, and Chase couldn't help worrying about her.  
  
"We're running out of water," Fidget said, holding up her canteen.  
  
"We only have one more jar of Sploosh," Chase said. "But at least we still have a lot of beans."  
  
The other girls frowned in disgust.  
  
They walk on in silence for the next hour and a half, not drinking any of their precious water, or any of their Sploosh.  
  
Lei thought she was going to fall down as her legs felt like lead. She wanted to give up when she looked up and saw rocks all around her.  
  
"COME ON!" Fidget screamed, she had reached the base of Big Thumb and was jumping up and down, yelling at the other girls to hurry up.  
  
Zippy began running, even though she was feeling terrible. Magnetic started laughing hysterically, and Static started skipping towards the mountain. With the way the girls were acting it was as if Christmas had come early.  
  
"What are you all so excited about?" Chase asked. "We still have to climb it."  
  
The girls stopped cheering.  
  
"We're gonna climb it?" Fidget asked.  
  
"Well yeah," Chase replied. "That way we can see all over the desert. Maybe we'll see a road or something from up there?"  
  
The other girls looked upset.  
  
"What else would we do?" Chase asked. "We don't have to start climbing today, we can start tomorrow. Don't worry everything will be fine."  
  
None of the girls acted relieved at Chase's last words, but they set up camp all the same.  
  
"Let's celebrate comeing this far already," Zippy suggested. "With the last of the sploosh."  
  
The other girls all agreed.  
  
"We can have some fun," Lei said, but her voice was raspy and she didn't sound like she'd be able to have much fun.  
  
The girls broke the last jar of Sploosh and shared the sweet nectar inside.  
  
Giggling Lei said, "We gotta get beautiful for our climb tomorrow!"  
  
The other girls giggled too.  
  
Lei pulled a brush and her fake hybisscuses out of her bag.  
  
"Who's first?" she asked.  
  
"Ooh me!" Zippy said. Then, holding Stitch close, she sat in front of Lei, while Lei made her hair up with one of the hybisscuses.  
  
While one of the girls was getting their hair done the other girls would either be eating Sploosh and talking, or getting a new makeover.  
  
Fidget had unpacked the set of gel pens she had brought, and she was now drawing flowers and stuff on the girl's faces.  
  
"Do you just LOVE Hawaii?" Static asked, as she sat before Lei.  
  
Lei hadn't been born in Hawaii, but as her mother was a native Hawaiian Lei had spent most of her life there. "It's so beautiful," Lei said. "The water is clear and perfect, the people are amazing, and the scenery is GORGEOUS! It's Paradise in my book."  
  
"I wish I could go there one day," Static said. "But my mom's always too busy, and I don't think we have enough money to afford the air fare." Static was raised by her mom as her dad had left when he found out his girl friend was pragnant. Static had a little brother back at home that she had always got along really well with. She really missed him and her mom, and she wondered what they would do if she died out here in the middle of the desert.  
  
"All done," Fidget said, as she finished drawing on Chase's face.  
  
"It looks awesome," Zippy said, she already had her hair and her face done. Zippy and Chase went off to lye on their sheets while the other girls laughed and talked.  
  
"It's a beautiful night, huh?" Chase asked, laying on her back and staring up at the stars.  
  
"Yeah," Zippy agreed.  
  
"You know Zip," Chase said. "I'm really glad you decided to come with me-I mean you didn't have to but you came anyway."  
  
"Yeah," Zippy said. "What the hell are friends for?" she laughed.  
  
"What do you think is gonna be at the top of the mountain?" Chase asked.  
  
"A big Chinese restaraunt-or an ice cream shop-or an air conditioned movie theater with a free consession stand!" Zippy grinned. "What do you think is gonna be up there?"  
  
Chase thought for a moment. "Opportunities, our future, a refuge-I dunno?"  
  
"Opportunities eh?" Zippy said smiling. "Like what; your opportunity to fall in love with Squid?"  
  
Chase rolled her eyes. "Back to Squid again? When will you ever stop Zip?"  
  
"Never!" Zippy said, smiling. "But really Chase, you should have given him a chance! You probably would have really liked him, he was nice you know."  
  
"Oh, I don't care," Chase said. "It's too late, he's all gone now-I'll never see him again so..........."  
  
"So?" Zippy asked. "So? So? SO? What, if you saw him again would you give him a chance? Is that what you're trying to tell me?"  
  
"No way!" Chase said.  
  
Zippy shook her head, then changed the subject. "It's a weird mountain huh?" she asked, staring up at the giant mountain looming over them. "It's funny how it's shaped like a thumb. And how the thumb is pointing up into the sky, it's like-it's like-"  
  
"God's Thumb," Chase finished.  
  
"Yeah," Zippy said, smiling. "God's Thumb." 


	19. What's That?

"Are we there yet?" Armpit asked. The sun was high in the sky already and the D tent boys were all very worn out.  
  
"I don't think we'll ever get there," Twitch moaned.  
  
"Don't worry guys," Zigzag said, shading his eyes from the sun. "Looks like we only have a day or two before we get there."  
  
"A day or two?" Squid asked, he was very tired now and didn't even care if they ever found the girls just as long as he found a nice place to sleep- for hours.  
  
"Can't wait to find that house full of girls in bikinis," Zigzag said to himself as he squinted through the sun light.  
  
"Here we go," Chase said as she began climbing up the mountain. The first third of the mountain was pretty steep, but it was filled with crevices and small ledges the girls could stand on. But some of the small ledges would crumble as soon as pressure was put on them, making the girls slip and nearly slide down the mountain side.  
  
"Hurry up!" Magnetic cried, she was hanging onto the mountain right beneath Static, who had suddenly stopped.  
  
"I can't find any place to pull myself up," Static said, she was frantically searching for a crevice of some sort above her, and was almost out of luck when Fidget lent her a hand.  
  
Fidget pulled Static up onto a huge ledge that grew into a long cave. Chase, Zippy and Rogue were standing on the ledge also, looking down at the long expense of rock they had just climbed.  
  
"Wonder what this cave leads to?" Lei said as Static pulled her up over the ledge. When all the girls were on the ledge Rogue decided to have a look around. She walked into the cave while the others stood outside it, waiting for her to come back.  
  
"It's just an old cave," Rogue said, coming back out of the cave. "There's nothin' in there and it's not even that long."  
  
"Well then, onward we go," Lei said, pointing up towards the sky and the thumb of the mountain which wasn't visible to them now.  
  
The next stretch of the mountain wasn't so easy to climb, as it was very steep with barely any crevices, cracks, or small ledges.  
  
"Whoa!" Chase cried as she slipped and skinned her knees and elbows against the rocks.  
  
Lei grabbed her hand and held onto her tightly, though it was very hard because Lei was now on the verge of slipping. "You holding onto anything?" Lei called down to Chase.  
  
"Other than your hand?" Chase asked. "No."  
  
"Well hurry up and grab something or stand on something!" Lei cried, her hand was slipping from the rock she was now clinging to.  
  
Chase looked around. The only crevice near her was a tiny one that would be a little hard to reach, it was so small though that she feared she would just slip as it would barely support her. But she had to try it out anyway. She stretched her arm out to the full extent, but it wasn't enough; the tips her fingers just brushed it. She tried again, swinging her body a little bit so that she could grab hold of the crevice.  
  
"Okay," she said. "I think I've got something."  
  
"Ya' sure?" Lei asked.  
  
"Yeah," Chase replied, and with that she let go of Lei's hand. Holding onto the tiny crevice for dear life Chase looked around her. There was another tiny crevice just above her but no place to support her feet and the rest of her weight. She reached up for the crevice above her head but it crumbled, and she was left dangling there, scared out of her mind.  
  
"Chase hold on!" Zippy cried, but she was too far ahead to do anything to help Chase.  
  
Chase did hang on-but not for long. As soon as her fingers slipped from the crevice she slipped from the side of the mountain.  
  
Chase slid all the way down to the ledge by the cave, receiving a large, bloody gash on her stomach and a big bruise on her forehead.  
  
"CHASE!" Zippy screamed down to her.  
  
Chase, who was now lying on her back on the ledge, stared up at the other D tent girls with blurry eyes.  
  
"Chase! Are you okay?" Lei cried down, she looked really worried.  
  
Chase sat up and nodded, but had to quickly lye back down again as her head (not to mention the rest of her body) was in terrible pain.  
  
"Chase I'm coming down there!" Zippy yelled.  
  
"No!" Chase cried. "It'll waste too much time! You guys go on, I'll catch up later!"  
  
Zippy stared down in horror at the small figure below that she knew as her best friend.  
  
"GO!" Chase urged.  
  
Magnetic started climbing again, convincing the others to move along as she went.  
  
Chase rubbed her forehead then looked in disgust at the long, bleeding gash across her stomach. Her elbow also surged with pain as she had landed on it when she fell. She wondered how long it would take her to climb the mountain now, and if she would just keep falling down every time she started back up again.  
  
Zippy still stared down at Chase, looking worried, but when she too started to slip she began her way up the mountain again.  
  
Chase stood up slowly; her legs and her back hurt as well. She reached up for a crevice in the mountain and pulled herself up. But Chase had only climbed for a few seconds before the pain became too much for her and she fell back down onto the ledge. She decided to just lye there and rest for a while before continuing.  
  
Zippy climbed up onto a flat ledge that stuck out from the mountain like a platform. She looked around the landscape below, once she thought she saw an animal of some sort, crawling across the desert towards the mountain. But soon she came to the conclusion that she was seeing things as she had never seen an animal that big in the desert, moving at that rate-maybe it was just a mirage?  
  
"What's that?" she asked, as the other girls climbed up onto the ledge.  
  
"What's what?" Magnetic snapped, looking across the desert.  
  
"That!" Zippy cried, pointing at the place where the animal had been. But whatever it had been it had now disappeared into the shadows of the mountain, and the other girls couldn't see it.  
  
"Whatever," Magnetic said, then she turned and looked at the passage to the top of the mountain. They had reached the third stretch of the mountain, which was the easiest to climb-as they didn't really have to climb anything. It was mostly smooth rocks, a lot of them naturally formed stairways, and smooth paths.  
  
"Hey this looks easy!" Magnetic said, making her way across the level walkways.  
  
"Come on," Lei said smiling. She followed Magnetic and so did the other girls. Zippy started walking, but abruptly stopped.  
  
"You okay Zippy?" Fidget asked, turning around.  
  
Zippy was bent with pain as she clutched her stomach yet again. She fell to her knees and started whimpering with agony.  
  
"It must be that Sploosh she ate," Rogue said, it was the first thing she had said all day. "You gonna be okay?" she asked Zippy.  
  
Usually Zippy would have nodded, trying to seem stronger, but today she didn't. She stayed bent, her nose almost touching the ground.  
  
"Come on!" Magnetic cried. "We're almost there! Zippy you'll be fine!"  
  
"Mag, I don't think she can walk," Lei said, she sat down next to Zippy, trying to comfort her.  
  
Magnetic heaved an angry sigh and turned away from the path beyond. "Come on Zippy! It's just over those rocks! You're strong, you can make it! Let's go ALREADY!"  
  
Zippy raised her head just long enough to glare at Magnetic.  
  
"What?" Magnetic said sheepishly as all the girls glared at her.  
  
"Do you want to lye down or something?" Lei asked, looking concerned.  
  
"No," Zippy said, standing back up, though she still looked a little dazed. They began walking again.  
  
"What the hell is that?" Armpit asked, pointing up at the ledge sticking out from the mountain.  
  
The boys had reached the base of the mountain, but unlike the girls they didn't celebrate. They now looked arond for an easy way to climb up, even though they were very tired and their muscles were sore.  
  
"If we climb it," Zigzag had said a few hours earlier, "then we'll be able to see the girls somewhere out on the desert-I think."  
  
So the boys had all agreed on climbing the mountain to get a fair view of the desert. But now as they stood at the base of the mountain they realized with dismay just how big the mountain was, and so they decided just to climb to the ledge Armpit now pointed at.  
  
"What are you talkin' about?" Squid asked, looking up at the ledge too but seeing nothing but rocks.  
  
Armpit had thought he'd seen a person standing up there on the ledge, but now wondered if his was going delirious as there was nothing visible now but rocks.  
  
"Let's start up this way," Zigzag said, pointing to a bunch of rocks shaped as a very messy stairwell. The boys began to climb immediately, Zero having some trouble as sometimes he wasn't tall enough to reach the next ledge or crevice; and Armpit having a lot of trouble due to his weight. But over all the boys climbed at a quick pace, faster than the girls had as a lot of the boys were taller and stronger than the girls.  
  
"Come on Armpit!" Xray shouted down. All the boys, except Armpit, were pretty close to the ledge now. Armpit was farther below, worried about climbing a stretch of rock where there wasn't any large ledges and just a lot of tiny foot holes.  
  
"Come on Armpit, we're almost to the ledge!" Squid shouted.  
  
Armpit shook his head. "No way in hell am I climbin' up that!" he cried.  
  
"COME ON!" the boys yelled.  
  
Armpit reluctantly grabbed for a crevice to help pull himself up. He stuck his feet in two foot holes and began to shakily climb up the mountain. He climbed slowly, cussing as he went, making a lot of the small ledges crumble beneath him, but finally he caught up to the other boys.  
  
"Well finally!" Zigzag said, then he started climbing again, as did the other boys.  
  
"We're almost there," Squid repeated to himself, as he looked up at the ledge sticking out over their heads.  
  
Chase started climbing again, her arms were tired and sore from the many attempts she'd failed, but she wasn't giving up that easy. She reached up for a crevice and pulled herself up, it hurt her head to strain her muscles so much but she had to keep going. She looked around for another crevice off to the left, planning on taking a different path up the mountain than the many she'd already tried.  
  
She climbed as quickly as she could, ever thinking about how far the other girls had gone. She reached up for another crevice and stood on a rock sticking out from the mountain, she had almost slipped before she grabbed hold of another crevice and pulled herself to that.  
  
It took her some time but finally she pulled herself up onto a large ledge; the beginning of the third stretch. She was almost there. 


	20. Continueing the Long Climb

Squid pulled himself up onto the ledge, he was surprised to see a big cave leading back into the mountain. He looked out at the wide expanse of desert below them, they had come so far since they had begun.  
  
"Well, you see any girls?" Zigzag asked, shielding his eyes from the sun.  
  
"Naw," Squid said, looking around at the empty desert.  
  
"Man, this bites," Magnet groaned, wiping some sweat from his forehead.  
  
"What's that?" Zero asked, pointing out at a big dark figure laying on the ground in the distance.  
  
"Why does everyone keep asking that?" Squid groaned.  
  
"Looks like a dead animal or something," Xray said, answering Zero's question. "Don't worry though," he continued, "it's too big to be one of the girls."  
  
"Yeah, especially Zippy," Armpit said with a small laugh. Zero rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well where the hell are they?" Zigzag asked, looking around in frustration.  
  
"What if they didn't even come this way?" Armpit huffed, sitting down. "What if they followed the road, or went out on the desert behind the camp compound?"  
  
The other boys looked in dismay, they hadn't considered this when they had left Camp Green Lake.  
  
"Well, what do we do now?" Twitch asked.  
  
No one answered him at once.  
  
"I dunno," Zigzag said, he too sat down in disappointment.  
  
The other boys walked around, staring out at the desert, desperate to see a group of girls walking along.  
  
"So much for my house full of girls in bikinis," Zigzag said, resting his head in his hands.  
  
Suddenly a shower of rocks and dust fell to the ledge from a higher portion of the mountain.  
  
Coughing, Zigzag stared up at the mountain. "What the?"  
  
"Someone's up there," Squid said quickly, his spirits rising a little bit.  
  
"Or something," Armpit said. "What if it's an animal?"  
  
"I don't think there'd be an animal that big living on this mountain," Xray said, he too was staring up at the mountain with excitement.  
  
"What if the girls are up there?" Zero asked.  
  
"Wanna climb it?" Squid asked the other boys.  
  
"No way!" Armpit cried, he had had it hard enough when trying to climb the first stretch of the mountain.  
  
"Come on man!" Twitch cried. "The girls! Fidget-ooh Fidget!!!!"  
  
"Yeah man, just think about Lei," Zigzag said, starting to laugh.  
  
Armpit glared at him but was soon back on his feet.  
  
"I'm gonna wait for Chase," Zippy said shortly. "I mean what if she's REALLY hurt now?"  
  
"I bet she's fine!" Magnetic shouted while climbing over a big rock.  
  
"You don't know that for sure!" Zippy shouted back, she was getting fed up with Magnetic.  
  
"What, you don't have confidence in your best friend?" Magnetic snapped.  
  
"No that's not what this is about!" Zippy replied. "She could be really, really hurt now and we're just walking onward? I'm waiting."  
  
"You do whatever you want!" Magnetic said. "But I'm NOT stopping!" She continued climbing over the rocks.  
  
"Fine!" Zippy said, sitting down on a rock and folding her arms. "I wouldn't want you to stay with me anyway!"  
  
Magnetic ignored her as she continued walking.  
  
The other girls stared at Zippy but they didn't want to stop and wait either, especially now that they had gone so far since they'd left Chase. Reluctantly they turned and continued up the mountain leaving Zippy behind.  
  
Chase walked along the easy slopes of the mountain. She had a terrible headache and she walked pretty slowly. She wondered how far the other girls were, and if they were at the top of Big Thumb yet.  
  
As she walked along she heard voices coming from behind her. She wondered when she had become truly crazy though, as she knew that hearing boys voices out here on a mountain in the middle of the desert definitely meant you were hearing things. Was it the heat that was making her go mad? Or could it possibly be that she missed the Green Lake boys? But she didn't think on that possibility long as that COULD NOT be the case.  
  
She shook her head, trying to block out the voices, and continued walking.  
  
Armpit clung to the side of the mountain, daring himself to look down.  
  
"Hurry up!" he cried, but none of the other boys were blocking his way up the mountain, and he just hung there, scared out of his wits.  
  
"You hurry up!" Squid shouted back. He and the other boys were all standing on the large ledge that looked like a platform, shouting down at Armpit yet again.  
  
"No way! NO WAY IN HELL MAN! I ain't climbing up that!" Armpit cried. "I could fall! I'm gonna fall! OH MY GOD!"  
  
"Come on man!" Magnet shouted. "Pull yourself together!"  
  
"You're so close!" Zigzag encouraged.  
  
Armpit looked up-but then he looked down. "HOLY SHIT!" he cried.  
  
"COME ON!"  
  
Armpit reached up for the nearest crevice, but quickly pulled his arm back as he had almost slipped. He tried it one more time as the other boys wouldn't stop yelling at him but again he pulled back.  
  
"ARMPIT!!!!" the boys cried.  
  
"Jesus Christ, come on Armpit!" Squid cried, then he leaned over and grabbed Armpit by the wrist. Xray, getting the idea, grabbed Armpit's other wrist. They didn't know how they possibly did it, but somehow the D tent boys were able to pull Armpit up onto the ledge.  
  
Armpit looked around. "Hey thanks guys," he said.  
  
The other boys scowled as they rubbed the back of their necks and cursed at their sore muscles.  
  
"We're almost there," Zigzag said, looking around at the flats paths and stairways.  
  
"Come on!" Zero said happily, leading the way.  
  
Chase walked until she thought her head was going to burst. She sat down on a rock and held her head in her hands, unwanted tears rolling down her cheeks, when suddenly the image of Squid came into her mind. She stood up suddenly and began to walk again, shaking the image of Squid out of her mind and wiping away her tears.  
  
"CHASE!"  
  
Chase stopped. The last thing she needing now was for someone to start screaming with happiness and jumping around her. She looked around wildly, trying to find who had started yelling, when she was suddenly rammed into by someone very small and very fast.  
  
"Chase! I was so worried! I thought you might have been-" Zippy hugged Chase, making her head spin.  
  
"Yeah, okay, I'm glad to see you too, Zip," Chase said, pulling Zippy away from her.  
  
"How many times did you fall?" Zippy asked, stepping back and examining the many cuts and bruises her friend had gained.  
  
"Too many times," Chase replied. "Where's everyone else?" she asked, looking around.  
  
"They all went ahead," Zippy said sourly.  
  
"Well, come on then," Chase said, and she began walking, Zippy at her side.  
  
They walked for about a half an hour before they were stopped yet again by the other D tent girls.  
  
"What!?" Zippy cried when she and Chase came across five girls who had been waiting for them while sitting around on a bunch of rocks.  
  
"We couldn't go up there without you two," Lei said smiling. Even Magnetic was sitting there with the other girls, though she looked very annoyed.  
  
Zippy raised her eyebrows. "But what about earlier when I wanted to wait for Chase and you guys would have none of it?"  
  
"Yeah, but then we took some time-you know, we thought about it more," Rogue said. "Saw we couldn't go to the top of the mountain without all our girls!"  
  
Everyone stared at her.  
  
"What?" she said looking around. "They are our girls, aight? Now lets get this pathetic show on da' road," she stood up and lead the girls to the top of Big Thumb. 


	21. The Oasis

"Come on, we're almost there!" Zippy cried, she started running.  
  
The sun had sunk from the sky and it was a little cooler now as the girls walked. They had been walking for about an hour or so (which HAD NOT been fun) but now they were all positive that they were just about there.  
  
"God, I'm soooooo tired!" Magnetic complained. "How much farther?"  
  
"I dunno," Chase said. "Get out of my freakin' face you god damn bugs!" she swated at a group of gnats that had been flying around her head.  
  
The girls continued walking then abruptly stopped as Zippy, who had been in the lead, now stood still as a board.  
  
"WATER!" Lei shouted, running past Zippy. The other girls went balistic also.  
  
"OH MY GOD! Who would have known there'd be water up here?!" Static cried, running into one of the pools of muddy water.  
  
Zippy jumped all the way into the water first, followed by most of the other girls. Chase used the water on her cuts and bruises, Lei used it on her long, dark hair, and everyone else played in it, enjoying it's cool weightless feeling.  
  
"And I used to think Hawaii was the best place in the world," Lei said, filling her empty canteen.  
  
"Oh my god, this is SO paradise!" Magnetic cried, flipping her wet hair away from her face.  
  
"What are these?" Zippy asked, pulling a green plant out of the ground as she sat in the pool of water. The root of the plant was bulb-like and purple colored. There were millions of the same plant growing all over the top of Big Thumb.  
  
Lei pulled out one of the plants herself and sniffed the bulb-like root. Then, to the other girls surprise and disgust, Lei took a bit out of the root.  
  
"What's wrong with you Lei?" Magnetic asked. "Are you really THAT hungry?"  
  
Lei grinned. "It'd delicious!" she said, smiling broadly. "So sweet!"  
  
"A root?" Static said. "You think a root is so sweet and delicious?"  
  
"It's not a root!" Lei said, laughing. "Here, try it," she handed the plant to Static, but when Static didn't take a bite Lei said, "Don't worry; it's an onion."  
  
Static took a bite. "It is really good," she said, taking another bite.  
  
Magnetic frowned. "I don't like onions!"  
  
"Yeah, but these are REALLY good onions," Fidget said, after pulling one of the onions out of the ground and taking a big bite out of it. "Plus, if you're hungry..........."  
  
Magnetic grabbed an onion and took a bite. "Well it's not great," she said as she chewed the onion. "But I could learn to like it."  
  
"It's gotta be close," Squid said.  
  
"It better be close," Armpit groaned.  
  
"We've been walkin' for like an hour or two already-" Squid continued. "Get outta my face you fucking bugs!" he swated at some gnats that wouldn't stop flying around him.  
  
"Wait," Magnet said. "If there are bugs here wouldn't that mean that there's water somewhere around here?"  
  
The other boys stared for a moment as the realization hit them. Then they started running.  
  
"Maybe the water is from the pool those girls in bikinis are sittin' in!" Zigzag said as he ran. The boys hurried around the side of a big rock, turned a corner, and stopped dead.  
  
If you were a bird flying over the top of Big Thump at that moment you wouldn't have noticed any teenagers at all. You would have just seen a bunch of oddly shaped rocks here and there, as nothing on the top of Big Thumb was moving.  
  
Gaping in horror, confusion, surprise, and happiness was all anyone could find the strength to do.  
  
"Z-Zero?" Zippy said slowly, not sure she was really seeing correctly.  
  
For that's how everyone felt at that moment, as they stood there in silence, some of them blinking wildly and rubbing their eyes, others standing still as statues with a stupid grin on their face, and the rest staring in disbelief and anger.  
  
But as you know, Zippy never could sit still for very long, and soon she jumped out of the pool of water, raced up to Zero, and hugged him with all her might.  
  
When the shock of being hugged by the girl he had a HUGE crush on had finally passed Zero slowly wrapped his own arms around Zippy.  
  
"Zigzag? Wha-what're you guys doing here?" Static asked, she could barely speak she was so surprised.  
  
"I-we-um........" ZigZag couldn't seem to find the words to say.  
  
"Is that water?" Twitch gasped suddenly, grinning from ear to ear as he moved towards Fidget.  
  
"Yup!" Fidget said, she couldn't hold back and soon she was hurrying right up to Twitch herself, both of them talking (and fidgeting) imediatly.  
  
"Hey chikas!" Magnet said. "We weren't really expecting to find you up here!" Then he turned to Magnetic, "And I was hoping I wouldn't find you here."  
  
"Oh great! He didn't get bitten by a yellow spotted lizard," Magnetic groaned.  
  
"Wouldn't want to disappoint you babe," Magnet replied sourly.  
  
Magnetic looked as if she would hiss like a cat-or even growl like a tiger.  
  
Squid looked at Chase, who glared back at him; what was wrong with him? This was what he had been waiting for ever since they had left Camp Greenlake, but now that Chase was there in front of him Squid wasn't too thrilled about being around her again.  
  
"Hey!!!" Lei said, jumping to her feet, splashing the water around as she did so. "This is too perfect! Who knew you guys would leave camp-when did you leave anyway?"  
  
"Like two days after you guys left," ZigZag replied, he was watching Static very closly as she made her way towards him.  
  
"The question is why did you guys leave?" Rogue snapped, she did not seem pleased to see any of them.  
  
"Well, we erm-wanted to leave Camp Green Lake, 'cause-you know-it uh......sucks there," Xray replied, it seemed to be a great effort for him to keep himself from running up and kissing Rogue.  
  
"Oh please!" Twitch said, jumping into the pool of water. "He wanted to leave so he could see you again Rogue!"  
  
Rogue glared.  
  
"I got your letter," Zero said. He and Zippy had moved away from the others and were now hidden behind a large rock that lead up to the thumb of Big Thumb.  
  
"Really?" Zippy said, she couldn't stop smiling, she didn't know why she was so nervous. "Was it really corny and sad?"  
  
"No," Zero said smiling. He pulled the letter out of his pocket.  
  
"You kept it all this time?" Zippy asked, she wasn't sure how long it had been since she had hidden the letter in Zero's crate; she and the other D tent girls had lost track of the date.  
  
Zero smiled. "Of coarse," he replied. "Why wouldn't I?"  
  
Zippy shrugged, she was very nervous now.  
  
"But my favorite part," Zero continued, "was when you wrote you loved me."  
  
Zippy blushed, she had wondered if it had been a good idea to write that on the letter. "Oh yeah...............that," she said.  
  
Zero smiled. "It was cool.........it was swe.............." but Zero had stopped talking, he was watching Zippy's lips, not paying attention to anything but her.  
  
"I-I ummm................." Zippy began, but she trailed off into nothing as Zero was leaning toward her, intensity in his eyes. Zippy's eyelids fell as she watched Zero get closer to her, and her heart pounded so fast she wondered if it would beat itself out. "I............" but whatever Zippy had been about to say was cut short as Zero had kissed her. 


	22. The View From God's Thumb

"Man, why'd they have to come here?" Chase said disappointedly. She had climbed up to the top of Big Thumb's thumb and was lying on the rock by herself, staring up at the stars.  
  
It was beautiful up there. Probably the best veiw in the world. It was so high up that it made you feel weightless-as if you were part of the sky, as if you could reach up and touch one of the millions of stars in front of you.  
  
Chase had climbed up the thumb when everyone was too involved in talking to each other to notice her. She didn't want to be around anyone-not even Zippy. She kept telling herself she was mad, and that she hated everyone- especially Squid, but to her rage the thought of Squid just wouldn't leave her troubled mind.  
  
"God damnit! Get out of my head!" she cried, hitting her head back on the rock beneath her.  
  
"You know, that could cause you serious head trama."  
  
It was Squid.  
  
Chase huffed in rage. "Can't I get like one freaking minute by myself?" she snapped as Squid sat down on the rock beside her.  
  
"Yeah," Squid replied. "But not now." Then he lay down and gazed up at the stars. "Wow," he gasped. "This veiw's awesome."  
  
"Why do you think I'm up here?" Chase said. She sat up, preparing to leave, but Squid grabbed her around the ankle before she had a chance to go cussing back down the mountain.  
  
"Leaving so soon?" Squid asked, holding Chase tightly around the ankle.  
  
"Well I would be if you let me go!" Chase snapped, she stepped on Squid's hand but it didn't seem to effect him and he still held her tight.  
  
"But I just got here," Squid replied, he pulled Chase back down.  
  
"Yeah, that's great, now LET ME GO!" Chase glared at Squid, who only smiled back at her.  
  
"I'll only let go if you promise to stay here for at least a little bit."  
  
"Fine, I promise," Chase said. "Now let me go!"  
  
Squid released Chase's ankle from his grip. She got back to her feet, planning to run away from Squid, but her plan was shot as Squid had hold of her ankle again.  
  
"Fine," Chase gave in and sat back down. "I'll stay-but only for a little bit!"  
  
Squid smiled.  
  
The two of them lay there, staring up at the stars for a minute in silence.  
  
"What are you thinkin' about?" Squid asked after a minute or two.  
  
"How happy I'll be when I'm back down there and you're still up here," Chase replied.  
  
"Hmm," Squid raised his eyebrows. "One thing I'm thinkin' about is you, and how good you'll taste when I'm kissin' in the not-too-distant future." Chase wrinkled her nose in disgust. "And the other thing I'm thinkin' about," Squid continued, "is my mom. I hope she's okay now."  
  
"I'm sure she's fine without you," Chase snapped, though she really knew nothing about Squid's mom or anyone else in his family for that matter.  
  
"Yeah, I wish I could believe you," Squid said, staring at the stars before them. "See, my mom's an alchoholic."  
  
Chase, the heartless grinch, felt terrible, as if her heart had grown one size bigger.  
  
"Oh," Chase said, turning her eyes away from the stars and studying Squid face. "I'm sorry," but Chase didn't let her true sorrow show as she still wanted to seem like the tough Chase Squid knew.  
  
"Aw, don't be;you didn't do anything," Squid said. "It's my fault for getting myself arrested and leavin' my mom home alone. God I hope she didn't do anything real stupid."  
  
Chase looked up at the stars again, she wasn't feeling so heartless anymore, but she didn't want to reveal that to Squid.  
  
"What about your parents?" Squid asked, turning to Chase.  
  
"Oh, my parents split up when I was ten. I mostly live with my mom now, she's a teacher. I never really see my dad; he's always on business trips and stuff," Chase looked down at her feet, she missed her mom terribly. "I think my mom was totally crushed when the police brought me home in cuffs that day."  
  
"You gonna tell me now what you did to get arrested?" Squid asked.  
  
Chase looked back at the stars, considering this. Then she mumbled something that was too quiet for Squid to hear.  
  
"What?" Squid asked.  
  
"I hit a kid," even the second time Chase said it it was so quiet Squid had to lean closer to her to hear her.  
  
"In your car?" Squid asked. "On the road? But I thought you didn't get as bad a punishment if you just accidently hit someone?"  
  
"Yeah," Chase said, she wiped away a single tear, hoping Squid hadn't seen it. "But this was a hit-and-run accident."  
  
"Oh," Squid said quietly, he looked back up at the stars. He had expected the conversation to end there but Chase continued.  
  
"I was driving around this little hill-you know, just goin' for a ride in my new wheels. The kid just ran out in the street in front of me when i turned the corner! I couldn't stop-I tried-but everything was just too sudden. I stopped after i hit the kid, I saw him, he was still alive-but i didn't call an ambulance! I even got out of the car and ran to his side-but i was too upset to do anything but drive away. The cops were parked higher up the hill when i went speeding by. They were just gonna give me a ticket for speeding but then they backtracked and saw the kid. They took him to the hospital-they tried to save him-i even prayed he would be okay-but he died later that night. I even saw his parents-they were so upset-I- I.............." Chase stopped and closed her eyes, turning away from Squid so he wouldn't see the many tears now streaming down her face.  
  
"You okay?" Squid asked, turning towards Chase.  
  
"Yeah," Chase replied in a shaky voice after a minute or two of silent crying. She wipped away her last tears then got to her feet, heaving a great sigh. "I think I'm gonna go back down there," she pointed down to the landing where all the others from D tent still were. "You know, get a drink or something."  
  
And with that she climbed back down the rocks leaving Squid lying there by himself, with nothing but his thoughts and the stars. 


	23. Thinking of Squid

"Man, we smell bad," Armpit said, taking another big bite from an onion.  
  
"No showers for days and the intake of like a million onions is no way to make a person their cleanest," Static said laughing, she too was eating an onion.  
  
Ten out of the fourteen members of D tent were spread out over the rocks on the landing, which they now called The Oasis. Everyone was either lyeing in the water or drapped out over one of the rocks, soaking wet, and nodding off to sleep.  
  
Rogue was sitting beside a rock far away from everyone else, scowling as X- Ray stared longingly at her. Magnetic and Magnet were sure to sit as far away from each other as possible, each one glancing menacingly over at the other occasionally. Fidget, who was usually to busy fidgeting with things to fall asleep very quickly, was sound asleep, sitting in one of the pools of water, her head resting against Twitch's chest (Twitch seemed to be too excited for words). Lei was lyeing on her stomache in the water, studying the onion she held in her hands in a dazed, sleepy sort of way. Static and ZigZag were both resting against the same rock that jutted out into the water, and Armpit lay just outside the water, falling asleep and waking up shortly after as he slowly ate onions.  
  
"I wonder what Zippy and Zero are doing?" Lei said, a big grin spreading across her face. "They've been gone an awfully long time now."  
  
"Well I'm curious about Squid and Chase," Static said. "They've been gone for a while also."  
  
"Well no longer must you be curious," Chase said, climbing down from the rocks and joining the rest of D tent.  
  
"Awwwwwww!" Lei cried. "We thought you would be mouth to mouth with Squid by now!"  
  
"Hell no," Chase said, she plopped down beside the pool of water, pulled an onion out of the ground, and began eating it-she didn't show any sign of the tears she'd cried just moments before.  
  
"Where is Squid?" ZigZag asked. "Don't tell me you just left him up there?"  
  
"So what if I did?" Chase asked, her mouth full.  
  
"Poor guy," Twitch said. "He probably feels so rejected."  
  
"Yeah," Static agreed.  
  
"God, you guys are making me sound like the worst person in the world," Chase said. "Besides, it definitly wasn't the scene for kissing up there."  
  
"Awww, you didn't kiss him? What's wrong with you Chase?" It was Zippy. She and Zero had retired from their secret spot hidden behind the rocks and were now returning to The Oasis.  
  
"Ooh here comes the cuddley couple!" Lei said laughing.  
  
"Shut up," Zippy replied, but she couldn't help grinning from ear to ear as she and Zero sat down beside the pool.  
  
"What?" Magnetic snapped suddenly, making everyone jump (including Fidget). Magnetic was glaring coldly at Magnet who had apparently been watching her from across the pool.  
  
"Nothing," Magnet said sheepishly, he quickly turned away from Magnetic.  
  
Lei and Static raised their eyebrows at each other as if they were silently saying, "Ooooooooh!"  
  
As everyone was slowly drifting off into sleep Chase sat down against a rock a little ways back from everyone else. She lay back, ready to fall asleep when suddenly a strange thought she couldn't get rid of drifted across her mind; how did it feel to kiss Squid? Chase hadn't romantically kissed anyone for quite some time now and she was shocked that she would actually wonder about such a thing. But Squid just kept coming into her mind; his lips, his smile, his dark eyes. Chase would have probably punched herself for thinking and longing about such things but she was too busy falling into a peaceful sleep filled with thoughts and dreams about Squid. 


	24. You'd Be Surprised

"Well nice of you to join us!" Zigzag said between a big yawn.  
  
The sun had risen up over God's Thumb and now almost the entire Oasis was flooded with light.  
  
Everyone was just waking up when Squid had come crawling down the mountain.  
  
"You slept up there?" Fidget asked, pushing herself away from Twitch.  
  
"Yeah," Squid lied. The truth was he hadn't really gotten any sleep that night; he'd been too busy with his thoughts to be bothered by sleep.  
  
"You okay man?" Xray asked, stretching his arms. He could tell there was something bothering Squid.  
  
"Yeah," Squid lied again, glancing over at Chase who was still fast asleep.  
  
"I'm hungry!" Zippy announced. "And I'm getting sick of onions."  
  
"All we have then is beans," Armpit said, pulling his back pack towards him.  
  
Zippy looked as if she had just lost her appetite.  
  
"You could just have some brown sugar!" Lei said smiling as she pinned her hair up with her fake hybiscus.  
  
Zippy probably would have pounced on Zero then and there if both of them weren't so tired and worn out.  
  
"Well, who wants some beans?" Armpit asked, holding up the opened can.  
  
Later that day when everyone was awake they all just lounged around on the rocks and in the pools of water.  
  
"So what are we gonna do?" Magnetic asked, examining her chipped nails. "We can't just stay here forever-I mean what about my family?"  
  
"Yeah," Xray agreed. "We have to leave some time-but when."  
  
"You mean we have to keep walking s'more?" Armpit asked, raising his eyebrows in horror. "Across that freakin' desert?"  
  
Xray nodded. "Unless you never wanna see your parents again?"  
  
Armpit looked torn between the desision.  
  
"We'll take A LOT of onions and A LOT of water," Lei reassured him.  
  
"Yeah, but who knows how long the trip will be?" Squid said, looking dismal. "We don't even know which way to walk."  
  
"Aw man! Why didn't we just follow the road to begin with?" Magnet groaned.  
  
"We can't walk back towards the road," Xray said. "The Warden's probably got guards on the look-out right now."  
  
"So you're suggesting we just walk out there into the desert hoping to find a way home?" Magnetic said.  
  
"Well, that is what we did when we came out here looking for you guys," Xray replied.  
  
"Well, we're all gonna die out her," Magnetic said, turning away from everyone else.  
  
"If we walk east we'll be able to find the road without even going near Green Lake," Static said.  
  
"Yeah?" Zero said, "But which way is east?"  
  
Static didn't have an answer for that.  
  
"The sun rises in the east," Chase said.  
  
"So we'll have to walk toward the sun?" ZigZag groaned.  
  
"Only if we wanna find the road," Chase replied.  
  
"Now the question is when do we leave?" Fidget asked, leaning back on Twitch again.  
  
"Not soon I hope!" Armpit cried.  
  
"How long have we been gone from Green Lake?" Zippy asked, furrowing her brow, trying to remember.  
  
"I don't even know what the date is!" Fidget said.  
  
"Well, we have been gone for a long time," Lei said. "I wonder if our parents even know about us yet?"  
  
"Knowing the Warden," Xray replied, "they probably don't have a clue."  
  
Everyone was silent for a second, then-  
  
"AHHHOUCH!!!!!" Static screamed, making everyone jump.  
  
Static jumped to her feet from the rock she had been laying against. She held the side of her face as she clenched her teeth and moaned with pain.  
  
"What is it?" ZigZag asked, jumping to his feet also and trying to comfort Static.  
  
"That!" Fidget cried, pointing at a big black scorpion that was scurring into the shadows beneath the rock Static had been leaning against.  
  
"EEK!" Magnetic shreiked; she hated bug, reptiles with sharp teeth, and anything that could inject poison into you. She jumped to her feet and tripped over Magnet's legs, no one was sure if Magnet had intended that to happen or not.  
  
"You okay?" ZigZag asked Static, he was standing very close to her looking worried as he tried to get her to move her hands away from her face.  
  
Slowly, Static removed her hands from her cheek bone, revealing a large sting that was quickly turning from bright pink to purple. Tears of pain were forming in Static's eyes as the pain from the sting began spreading across her face.  
  
"EW!" Magnetic cried, not helping the situation.  
  
"You have to wash it off or it'll get infected!" Fidget said, standing on her toes so she could see Static over everyone else.  
  
Static hurried toward the water and began washing the sting imediatly.  
  
"Too bad we don't have any soap," Magnetic said with an airy tone as if she didn't really care.  
  
Static emerged from the water, her attitude on the whole not changed. She glared at Magnetic who only shrugged her shoulders and turned away from everyone.  
  
"IT HURTS!" Static cried in agony. Lei hurried to her side and ZigZag continued his attemps to try and comfort her.  
  
"Stupid scorpion," Zippy said, but the scorpion was now far from sight.  
  
Static sat down on the ground, her face in her hands, and everyone else (except ZigZag) backed off.  
  
"Sheesh! Excitment every day!" Zippy said, sitting down beside Chase on a big rock. "So," she said, leaning closer to Chase so no one else could hear them. "What did you and Squid do last night?"  
  
"Nothing," Chase said, she didn't feel like talking about what she had told Squid the night before.  
  
But Zippy got the wrong idea. "Ooh!" she said excitedly. "Did you kiss him finally?"  
  
"No," Chase replied.  
  
"Come on Chase, I'm your best friend; tell me!"  
  
Chase looked Zippy straight in the eye. "I didn't kiss him Zip," she said. "On the contrary I told him why i was arrested."  
  
Zippy's big grin vanished. "Oh," she said, then she was silent for a few moments. "Well at least that means you're finally opening up to him!"  
  
"No!" Chase cried, shaking her head. But she realized she had begun to open up to Squid-but why?! Chase pushed all these thoughts out of her mind and turned her eyes toward Magnetic.  
  
"You think she likes Magnet?" she asked, changing the subject.  
  
"Who? Magnetic?" Zippy asked, spotting Magnetic across the pool, doing her best to pretend that Magnet wasn't even on the same mountain as she was. "No way! I mean, isn't it obvious she hates him?"  
  
Chase shrugged. "You'd be surprised," she said smiling. 


	25. Olivia Takes a Stand

"Any sign of them?" the Warden asked, walking up to Mr. Sir.  
  
It was another hot humid day at Camp Greenlake. All the juvenile deliquents were digging their holes and all the councelors were positioned at different spots around the lake, watching for D tent.  
  
"Nope," Mr. Sir replied. "They're all dead by now I bet."  
  
"No they aren't," the Warden snapped, but her voice wavered as she didn't doubt it. She had been dreading their deaths now for days as she couldn't bare to think about what would happen to her when all of their parents found out and pressed charges. "Keep looking!" she said sharply to Mr. Sir before getting back into her car and driving off into the haze.  
  
All of B tent was stationed near Mr. Sir's post and all of them had heard the anxiousness in the Warden's voice.  
  
"Do you really think Chase and all those guys are dead?" Olivia asked her friends as she dug her shovel deeper into the dirt.  
  
"I hope not, that would be really sad," Olivia's friend Target said. "They were all really nice!"  
  
"All of them but Magnetic!" Olivia's other friend Gum said.  
  
"Why are you guys cryin' about stupid D tent?" the Lump snapped. "Who cares if they're dead!"  
  
"Yeah, I mean they were luckier than us cause they got to leave camp before they died," one of the Lump's goons said.  
  
"Shut up!" the Lump said.  
  
"Besides, that Squid guy was kinda hot," Olivia said to her friends, not knowing the Lump had heard.  
  
"What'd you say?" The Lump asked, climbing out of his hole and walking over to Olivia.  
  
Everyday that Olivia had been at Camp Green Lake she had been pushed around by the Lump, but now she climbed out of her hole and faced him.  
  
"I said Squid was hot," she said bravly. "I mean, he is WAY hotter than you are. Why, you gotta problem with that?"  
  
Target and Gum looked worried.  
  
"Yeah, actually I do," the Lump replied, advancing on Olivia.  
  
"Well that's tough!" Olivia said.  
  
No one had expected what happened next, and when The Lump fell to the ground everyone in B tent gasped with surprise. Olivia had taken a stand and had whacked The Lump across the face with her shovel. He now lay in a heap on the ground before her.  
  
"What the hell is goin' on here?!" Mr. Sir demanded, marching over to B tent.  
  
Gum hurried out of her hole to greet him. "It's not Olive's fault," she said quickly (Olive was Olivia's nickname). "See Thlump here was gonna hurt Olive and she was just defending herself."  
  
"Yeah Mr. Sir," Target said climbing out of her hole and joining Gum. "And you know as well as I do that self defence IS NOT a crime."  
  
Mr. Sir considered this for a moment. "Is he unconscience?" he asked, referring to The Lump.  
  
One of The Lump's friends nodded.  
  
"Okay, you guys wake him up in about an hour or so if he hasn't already woken up himself." Mr. Sir was about to retreat back to his post when he was stopped by Gum.  
  
"What'll that do?" she asked.  
  
"He'll have to dig a lot longer than everyone else," Mr. Sir replied.  
  
"So it's all set," Lei said. "We're leaving in three days, and we're going east."  
  
"Yup," Static said. Her left eye and her cheekbone were completely swollen and dark purple and she sat resting her head against ZigZag's shouldler. Ever since she had been stung everyone had been more careful about where to lye down or step.  
  
"It would be so much easier if we could just stay here," Armpit said.  
  
"And live on onions and muddy water for the rest of our lives? No thanks!" Magnet cried.  
  
"Damn Pit, you upset the Queen Bee," Magnet said sarcastically. "We couldn't possibly force Magnetic to stay here with muddy water! That would be terrible!"  
  
Magnetic kicked some water at him.  
  
"Bitch," Magnet whispered, wipping the muddy water from him eyes.  
  
Chase raised her eyebrows at Zippy who was sitting beside her on a big rock.  
  
"Oh brother!" Zippy cried.  
  
"They can't keep their eyes off each other!" Chase laughed.  
  
"And he can't take his eyes off of you," Zippy replied.  
  
It took Chase a moment to find out who Zippy was talking about. No surprise. Squid was sitting beside Xray on the opposite side of the pool. As he talked to Xray he continueously glanced up at Chase. Sometimes when Squid caught Chase's eye he would just stare at her for what seemed like forever until Chase looked down, but usually when Squid caught Chase's eye he quickly looked down embarrassedly. To Chase's utter disgust she found herself wanting to catch Squid's eye after a while, and she found herself staring at him for a long time, just waiting for him to look up. She was even more embarrassed when Zippy pointed this out.  
  
"Hmmm........Looks to me like you can't keep your eyes off him either," Zippy said.  
  
"No!" Chase said a little too quickly. "I'm just..........just messin' with him again."  
  
But Zippy wasn't swayed and she sat there watching Chase with a big triumphant grin across her face.  
  
"Shouldn't you be off making out with Zero?" Chase asked.  
  
"Ooh! Good idea!" Zippy said jumping to her feet and leaving Chase alone on the rock.  
  
Chase looked back at Squid one more time and surprised herself when she saw he looked completely different from the last time Chase had looked his way. Instead of looking like the stupid, annoying, jerk Chase was used to seeing Squid now looked sweet, appetizing, and................gorgeous?  
  
"URGH!" Chase cried before jumping to her feet and begining to climb higher up the mountain. 


	26. Meet Potpourri

The kids of E tent stopped digging and watched as the big yellow bus rolled past, picking up dust as it moved along.  
  
"That'll be the D tent replacements," a boy named Easy said as he leaned on his shovel and watched the bus slow down.  
  
A tall boy with a deep slit in his lower lip glared at Easy for even mentioning D tent.  
  
The Warden watched the bus slow down to a complete stop from her livingroom window. She wasn't pleased with the judges' desions to send these new kids to Camp Green Lake; if anyone new that all of the origional D tent members were lyeing lifless out in the desert she would be dead.  
  
Mr. Sir greeted the police guard who was the first to get off the bus and stretch his sore legs. Second to get off the bus was a lengthy girl with dark, dark red hair and thick mascara. The thrid person off the bus was a very thin pale boy who stared around wildly as if he was worried someone was going to attack him.  
  
"Christina Kilkenny," Mr. Sir read off of a clipboard in his hands. "And Andrew Schiff?" Mr. Sir raised his eyebrows at Andrew who's eyes darted quickly around, taking in the scene around him.  
  
Mr. Sir introduced himself then took Christina and Andrew on a tour of Camp Greenlak; the showers, the Mess Hall, the Wreck Room, their new outfits, the grounds, and finally their empty tents.  
  
"Urm, you can decide which tent you wanna sleep in," Mr. Sir said. "Today you two can just get settled, but tomorrow you start your work." Then he went on to explain how they would have to dig their holes. "Okay well I'll leave you now," Mr. Sir said after he'd finished his explaining. "I'll be sending some kids from a different tent to come in and help you get ajusted, take you to dinner, and stuff. Well........bye." And with that Mr. Sir left, leaving Christina and Andrew standing before two empty tents.  
  
"Hey,yo, I'm Beenie and dis is Tart."  
  
It had been about an hour since Mr. Sir had left Christina and Andrew and they were now surprised (Andrew nearly scared out of his wits) by two older campers who had just entered their tent. One of the campers, Beenie, was a tall African-American girl with bright blue eyes, and black hair with a single blonde streak. The other camper, Tart, was a blonde girl that looked so sweet and careing that it was hard for Andrew and Christina to figure out why her name was Tart.  
  
"You're the new kids, eh?" Tart asked, smiling down at them as they sat on their cots.  
  
Christina nodded but Andrew didn't move a muscle.  
  
"Well, come on, da' Mess Hall is dis way," Beenie said, she was very tall and had to duck beneath the tent flap when she exited.  
  
"So how old are you guys?" Tart asked as she and Beenie lead Christina and Andrew to the Mess Hall.  
  
"Seventeen," Christina replied. When Andrew didn't answer Christina nudged him in the arm really fiercly.  
  
"Urm-fifteen," Andrew replied as the four of them entered the Mess Hall.  
  
"Every tent has their own table," Tart informed them as they moved along the crowded cafetiria. "That's your table," she said,pointing over to a table that was completely empty. "But tonight you guys can sit with us, we're in A Tent."  
  
Beenie and Tart lead Christina and Andrew to a large table on the far side of the room. The table was pretty much full already but they managed. As Andrew's eyes darted here and there he noticed all the members of C tent looked a lot older than everyone else.  
  
"Hey, these the new kids?" a blonde girl with big brown eyes asked as she squeezed in between two boys.  
  
"Yup," Tart replied. "This is Christina and Andrew."  
  
"Hi, I'm Jena-or Smooth;whichever you prefer," the blonde girl said, holding out here hand for them to shake.  
  
Tart introduced Christina and Andrew to everyone at the table.  
  
"How come our table is so empty but everyone else's is so full?" Christina asked after they had learned everyone's names.  
  
"You didn't tell them yet?" an Asian boy who was called Earthquake (or Quake) asked.  
  
Beenie shook her head, then she turned to Andrew and Christina. "See, your tent used ta' be jam-packed with people," she said.  
  
"Yeah; there was Chase, Zippy, Rogue, Magnetic, Static, Fidget, Lei, Xray, Armpit, Squid, ZigZag, Magnet, Zero and Twitch," a girl from South America named Vanessa (or, authentically, Tequilla) said very quickly.  
  
"Yeah......." Beenie said. "Anyway, they recently ran away."  
  
"They did?" Christina asked. "Why?"  
  
"Well we aren't really sure why," Tart replied. "But we think that the girls of D tent hated it so much here and-"  
  
"And the boys couldn't live without a tent full of hot girls right nextdoor," a white boy named Blue replied with a laugh.  
  
"But, couldn't they all die in the desert?" Christina asked. "Mr. Sir told us there was no water or ANYTHING out there."  
  
"Hey girl, they ain't stupid!" Beenie replied smiling. "We bet they're still alive; they were smart."  
  
"You mean you think they're still alive," a girl named Kate, or Nails, said. "She was good friends with this girl named Rogue that was in D tent," she explained to Christina. "So she's prayin' they're still alive."  
  
"Hey, I thought you were friends with Static?" Beenie snapped at Nails.  
  
"Well, sort of........" Nails replied a little sheepishly.  
  
"Anyway, the fact is that D tent is like a legend here at Green Lake," a black boy named Contact said. "Even if they are dead; they still got out of camp."  
  
"What's that smell?" a girl with white blonde hair named Cameron or Express asked.  
  
"What're you talkin' 'bout girl?" Beenie asked. "I don't smell nut'in' but these damn beans and some sweet perfume or somethin'."  
  
"Yeah," Express said. "What's that perfume? You wearin' any Christina?"  
  
"Yeah......." Christina said slowly.  
  
"It's awesome," Express said. Then she stood up to leave the table as one of her friends from a different tent was calling her over. But just before she left she turned to Christina and said, "You'll have to share some with me later, okay Potpourri? Bye."  
  
Christina furrowed her brow. "Am I Potpourri?" she asked.  
  
"I guess," Tart said smiling.  
  
"What the hell is potpourri?" Blue asked, looking utterly confused.  
  
"You on stupid pills or sumthin'?" Beenie asked. "It's than dried rose petals and stuff, they put it in a jar, and it smells good!"  
  
"I ain't on stupid pills," Blue grumbled. 


	27. The First and HopedToBe Last Kiss

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

**The First And Hoped-To-Be Last Kiss**

"Hey," Squid said, climbing up onto _The Thumb_.

Chase looked up in surprise. She had been laying on top of Big Thumb for what seemed like hours now, just peacefully thinking the afternoon away as she watched the sun slowly edge away from it's lordly perch up in the atmosphere. But now, as the most uninvited person Chase could think of climbed up over the little ridge dividing the tip of the thumb from it's rocky body, she sat up quickly, disgruntled and irritated by Squid's very presence. Didn't he have better things to do then follow her around every day?

"I never asked for you to follow me everywhere!" Chase retorted, propping herself up on her elbows and fixing Squid with the most menacing expression she could muster in the dizzying heat of the afternoon.

Squid grinned as he found himself a seat beside Chase on the creviced rock. "I know," he said slowly, glancing at Chase like a little schoolboy on the verge of pulling a prank.

Chase glared at him. "So then why _are _you following me?" She wasn't too certain about the way Squid was eyeing her: It made her feel antsy and fervent, almost like a deer caught in headlights.

Squid shrugged his shoulders, he was sitting close to Chase now, having moved towards her in the angry confusion of his arrival, looking her up and down.

"What?" Chase asked a little shyly, her bemused curiosity betraying her tough-girl act in a millisecond.

Squid shook his head absently, indicating no explanation and only infuriating Chase further. He wasn't sure exactly of what he was doing, his only intention was to sit next to Chase for a while and reenact his old days of high school, back when his biggest agents of charm were playful little glances and daring smiles. He knew very logically that these methods of flirtation would have absolutely no effect on Chase and her hardcore attitude but he thought it would be humorous to joke around with her. It had been months since he'd been able to really push someone's buttons and he felt that now, on this lazy afternoon, was the perfect time; despite Chase's already aggravated state of mind.

Chase continued to glare ceaselessly at Squid, a vein in her temple suddenly throbbing as she felt the combined effects of the deathly afternoon sun rays passing over her dry skin and the merciless hatred for Squid that exuded from her very pores. She loathed his childish grin and taunting glances and wished, imploringly, that he would just get up and leave before she tried something rash. But at the moment, the thing Chase abhorred the most about Squid and his corny attempts at catching her eye was the sickening way that he was staring her up and down, making her feel rather exposed and peculiar sitting beneath the open sky.

"Why don't you just take a freaking picture?" she snapped, bringing Squid's gaze back to her face in an instant.

"You got a camera?" Squid asked slyly, unable to restrain a broad, jesting smile.

Chase could have keeled over in exhaust and exasperation. "Just go away!" she demanded, shoving Squid in the ribs.

But he wasn't that easy to get rid of and he stayed where he sat, just eyeing Chase with a mock expression of ironic befuddlement spread across his face.

"You don't want me to bite your lip off like I did that other guy?" Chase said suddenly, not sure of how the short and abrupt conversation had lead her to remember that: Squid certainly wasn't approaching for a kiss at the moment, was he?

"You didn't bite his lip off," Squid said, grinning at her indignant stubbornness. "You just cut him a little." He watched the simple way the shimmering pinks of the beckoning sunset pirouetted off the outline of Chase's dusty skin and a sudden admiration fell over him. His ambitious desire to poke fun was abolished in seconds and soon he found that he was no longer watching the young girl who he liked to tease and annoy but rather a strangely practical and lovely young woman of whom he wished nothing of but a simple embrace. "Besides," he said slowly, his words becoming tangled like the confusion of his emotions. "I wouldn't care if you bit my lip off as long as I was kissin' you."

Chase stared at Squid and his suddenly slack expression with a sort of grotesque horror. So now he wanted to kiss her? Why had she ever had the idiocy to even mention the slobbery and vile incident that had taken place back at Camp Green Lake only a few weeks before? She couldn't believe herself but even more powerful was her disbelief in what Squid had said and what, no doubt, he was thinking. In a whirl of disaffection and animosity Chase leapt to her feet and stormed over to the crumbling ridge that shaped what could be identified as a thumbnail and began a furious descent down the mountainside.

"Just leave me the Hell alone!" she grumbled ferociously, stumbling a little as she hurried to find her footing.

Squid appeared at the ledge of the thumb, staring down at Chase with a sort of patient humor. "No," he replied, loudly enough for Chase to hear over the cacophony of crumbling rocks that pursued her. "I won't leave you the Hell alone," he said, the game of pestering Chase unfurling itself in his determination once again. "Not unless you kiss me."

"NO!" Chase shrieked, answering Squid's request and trying to dissuade his close pursuit. She reached a quarry of large pieces of broken rock and began to crawl over them at an unnerving pace, trying her hardest to reach the level ground before Squid caught up with her. She jumped down from the last boulder and took off at a sprint across the the pebble-strewn earth, racing towards the clearing where she knew the rest of D-tent would be waiting, and hoping desperately that the sounds of feet behind her were just echoes from far off.

But they weren't and the next thing Chase knew she was being grabbed tightly about the waste as she was pulled aside to a shadowy wall of stone, hidden from The Oasis.

Squid spun her around in his arms so that she was facing him, her sweet breath brushing against his neck every few seconds. The dim light of the evening reflected off Chase's deep blue eyes and paled her skin, providing Squid with a more beautiful image then he could have imagined. He stood there, staring at her, unable to think of any place in the world he'd rather be and yet unsure of what to do next.

Chase stood limply in his grasp until she caught her breath just enough to take a violent swing at his face. She didn't care that he had caught her at last and she wasn't going to give into him without a fight. She couldn't forget that smug grin upon his face when he'd been eyeing her up and down only a few minutes ago beneath the glorious sunset and she wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of getting to see what he'd been imagining.

But Squid ducked the blow and caught her wrist in his hand, holding it more gently then Chase would have suspected of a young criminal boy. Chase struggled fervently, furious that her first attempt at freedom had only provided Squid with the chance to draw her closer to him and hold her more tightly. She tried to wriggle free, attempting to hit him once more, but her struggles only left her wearier until finally she just lost the will to fight and stood weakly in Squid's embrace.

Chase was torn. Part of her wanted to pull at Squid's hair, smack him across the face, knee him in the stomach and ultimately hurt him in any way that would offer her an easy escape and give her the satisfaction of leaving him behind to kneel in pain. But the other side of her twisted emotions wanted to stand there in his gentle embrace forever, feeling safe and comfortable and anticipating his kiss. After all, Chase couldn't help noticing just how handsome he looked in the blue shadows of the ledge overhead, his dark eyes making her feel limp and powerless and yet giving her the reassuring sense of safety. She became slack as he moved toward her and thought vaguely of how stupid she was to allow anyone to get so close. But when their lips touched her mind was left blank and for a moment she stood there with absolutely no recognition of what was going on. Chase's stillness didn't last long, however, for the next thing she knew she was wrapping her arms around Squid and clinging to him tightly as she kissed him back.

Chase opened her eyes slowly, feeling more peaceful then she had in months and enjoying every bit of her kiss with... With... Chase stared in shock and ripped herself away from Squid, feeling too disgusted for words. She stumbled back against the stony wall for a moment, surveying Squid with a look of terror spread across her face, before she broke away from the cool blue shadows beneath the wall and sprinted out across the level terrain of the mountain, not even glancing back once. When Chase presumed that she had ran far enough in no particular direction, she chanced a look backwards, experiencing the unnerving feeling that someone was following her, and instantly felt the ground begin to slip away beneath her.

Chase looked down at the steadily decreasing pile of small rocks that she had unknowingly dashed onto, all of which were cascading downwards to the desert miles below. Chase didn't even have time to scream: she threw her hands out, desperately groping for something-anything-to grab onto as she began to fall away with the narrow ledge, a feeling of lightheadedness and disease befuddling her thoughts and confusing her actions so that all she could sense was deathly drop below. Chase was so hopelessly lost within the falling sensation that she didn't even notice when someone grabbed painfully about the shoulders and pulled her back up onto the mountainside.

Chase fell back onto the ground, still wrapped tightly in her savior's arms, and hit her elbow against the rocky surface, pain shooting up through her arm.

"You okay?" Zigzag asked struggling to his own feet before helping Chase up. He was sweating profusely, his childish face streaked with dust that had been kicked up from the rock slide and his eyes were wider then their usual paranoid breadth.

"Yeah," Chase said shakily. Her mind was still dizzied by the confusion of the fall and her stomach still jolted as it had with the collapse.

"Gotta' watch where you step," Zigzag said, deciding that no damage had been done and picking an onion he'd brought along up off the ground before taking a bite of it.

"Thanks," Chase said, catching her breath and clutching her bruised elbow. She stared at Zigzag for a moment as he enjoyed his onion, confused as to why he'd been wandering about the mountain alone and yet thankful for his sudden appearance. "What are you doing all the way out here?"she asked him, finally steadying her shaky breath to an even pace and furrowing her brow.

"Just takin' a walk is all," Zigzag replied, his mouth full. " An' lookin' for Squid.

"Oh," Chase said slowly, the memory of what had previously occurred within the shadows of the mountain flooded back into her mind, making her feel even queasier then she already did.

"You seen him?" Zigzag asked, eyeing Chase peculiarly as he eyed everyone.

"Um... Yeah," Chase said, biting her lower lip and feeling her face get warm. "I think I saw him over there," she gestured in the direction she had run from. "Somewhere back behind those big rocks, I think."

"Thanks," Zigzag said, he was about to turn and walk off in that direction when he stopped. "You sure you're okay? You look really upset..."

"Yeah, I'm okay," Chase lied. "It's just the shock from the fall, that's all."

"Okay..." Zigzag said , still eyeing Chase as if he knew her secret. "Well, bye then, and don't walk anywhere near the ledge!" He winked at her before turning and walking off towards the spot where Chase had left Squid, munching noisily on his onion the whole way.

* * *

"I can't believe we leave tomorrow!" Lei said as she filled her back pack with onions. "It seems like we just got here!"

"I know what you mean," Fidget said, she too was packing.

"Hey Chase!" Zippy cried excitedly as Chase came walking into The Oasis. She made to bound up to her but stopped suddenly when she noticed the clumsy way Chase was moving through the weeds. "You okay?" she asked as she watched Chase stumble over her own feet and catch herself against a large boulder that Armpit was leaning back on, watching her precariously.

"Yeah," Chase said, but she seemed distracted. Everyone watched her in confusion as she tripped and fell down to her knees in the muddy pool of water without noticing a thing.

"She's possessed," Twitch whispered just loudly enough for the whole Oasis to hear.

"Huh?" Chase asked, staring at him dizzily as she crawled out of the water and sat down next to Zippy in a large thicket of coarse grass. "I'm not possessed..."

"Of _coarse_ you're not," Magnetic said sarcastically, eyeing Chase with distaste.

"What happened?" Zippy asked urgently, lowering her voice so that only Chase could hear her and fixing Chase with a serious expression.

"Nothing," Chase slurred, clutching her stomach and throwing her arm out to catch herself from keeling over.

"Tell me!" Zippy whined, tugging at Chase's grimy tennis-shoe.

"I just-" Chase took a deep breath. "I was just running and I... I almost fell off the mountain cause I—I wasn't looking and Zig—Zigzag saved me and now I just feel kind of... Kind of..."

"Shaky? Freaked out? Sick?" Zippy suggested, shrill excitement rising in her voice again.

"Yeah," Chase replied dully.

Zippy sat there in silence for a moment, thought overcoming her as she watched Chase intently.

"Well," she began slowly after she'd had enough time to contemplate things. "Why were you running?"

Chase hadn't been prepared to answer this and she now struggled, trying to find the words that would help her avoid going into details about the kiss.

"Was it Squid?" Zippy asked before Chase even had a chance to come up with some suitable explanation for her fervent race across the mountainside.

"What?" Chase cried suddenly, despite her aching head. "What made you think of Squid?"

Zippy shrugged. "I dunno," she replied shortly. "It's just... Well, he's not here now, is he?" she stated, glancing about the Oasis with a logical air. "And he's the only person that I can think of who would make you decide to go off running... Unless of coarse Armpit was trying to eat you..." She trailed off into a dawning silence, her face expressionless as she stared off into space.

"Zippy, I-" Chase began, trying to will herself into telling the truth.

"Armpit didn't try to eat you did he?" Zippy asked in shock, a look of utter terror in her eyes.

Chase sighed wearily. "No, Zip," she said blandly shaking her head as slowly as her flighty mind would allow. "Armpit did not try to eat me."

"Oh," Zippy said with a sigh of relief as she surveyed Armpit's placid rest from across the pool suspiciously. "Cause I was gonna say..." Zippy trailed off into silence once more. "So it was Squid then!" she cried abruptly, coming to a sudden realization without any warning or consent to Chase's upset state. "What happened? How'd he make you run? Tell me everything!"

Chase laid back in the grass and stared up at the darkening sky above, thinking tiredly of all the events that had happened just a half an hour before, when the sun had began it's daily decline through the clouds.

"He kissed me," she said softly, feeling the warm evening breeze sweep lightly across her face.

"What?" Zippy cried, looking suddenly shocked and alert. "Could ya' say that again please?"

"He kissed me," Chase barely whispered, the sound of these words echoing throughout her head.

"WHAT?" Zippy shrieked excitedly, Chase bolted up and clamped a hand down over Zippy's mouth to prevent her from squealing with plea. As ready as Chase was to admit to Zippy what had happened, she still had no intentions of letting any of the other campers in on her secret.

"Sorry," Zippy whispered, her usual grin spreading all the way across her face once again. "So what did you do?" she asked fervently. "Did you kiss him back?"

Chase delicately considered the answer to this question. Had she kissed him back? She had been so confused during the whole fiasco that she could hardly remember anything that had happened other then the simple kiss itself. "Well... Sort of, I guess."

"Eeeeeeeeee!" Zippy shrieked with delight, startling a snoozing Magnet nearby.

"But I left him there," Chase said, unsure of her words as the memories of the event were slowly coming back to her.

"Huh?" Zippy cried, the excitement melting from her face to be replaced by confusion and then sourness. "You left him where? Chase, what did you do this time?"

"Nothing!" Chase cried defensively. "I was just—just confused, that's all! So I ran for it. I didn't _do_ anything though!"

"Okay, okay," Zippy interrupted, hurrying to calm Chase down. "I'm not accusing you or anything. Sheesh, hold on to your underwear would ya'?" she shook her head in a dismissive manner as if she were a parent chastising her child's guilty reactions to a simple crime. "So," she asked carefully, edging along steadily in her questions as to make sure Chase stayed calm. "Where _is_ Squid?"

"I don't know," Chase sigh pitifully, pulling at a limp weed in the dirt. "When I left him he was back behind those big rocks over there," she nodded away from the Oasis, indicating to a large hill of stone that from this side of the mountain appeared to be covered in the same coarse grass that Chase and Zippy sat in and miniature wildflowers that grew here and there across it's face.

"You guys were right behind that thing?" Zippy asked, raising her eyebrow.

Chase nodded. "It looks really narrow from here but that little cliff stretches pretty far out. That's why it took me so long to run over here."

"Oh," Zippy mouthed, casting a weary eye about the other D-tent members, all of whom were either packing their backpacks and chatting peacefully or sleeping. Suddenly Zippy gasped and turned to stare wide-eyed at Chase.

Sensing danger Chase bolted upright once again, only to find that Zippy was putting on a performance as Zigzag and Squid came climbing over the large rocks that surrounded the Oasis, Zigzag still chewing on onion.

Chase became tense as she watched Squid move into the clearing: Had he told Zigzag what had happened? And if he had, what would Zigzag think?

But, to Chase's surprise, Squid looked as if nothing had happened and Zigzag looked as clueless and gawky as ever, both of them laughing at a joke just shared.

"Hey Squid, where've you been?" Armpit asked, raising his head to look up at Squid and Zigzag as they approached.

"Just walking around," Squid replied shortly.

"And wastin' your energy! Man, we have to start walkin' for days and days tomorrow!" Armpit cried, acting utterly shocked at Squid's response (he, himself, had been lying around all day).

Squid smiled before picking a spot next to X-ray to sit down, and choosing an onion from the heavy supply growing about him.

Chase tried, urgently, to catch Squid's eye and somehow let him know that she was sorry about leaving him like that, but no matter how long she stared in his direction or made loud noises to try and catch his attention, he just wouldn't look at her. Soon, because of the haze of the evening and the agonizing pain of her headache, Chase gave up, coming to the conclusion that Squid was ignoring her, and fell asleep in the coarse grass where she sat, the warm evening breeze pirouetting across her skin and whispering the words, "_He kissed me_..."


	28. The Agreement and Fidget's New Attitude

That night Chase was fed up with Squid. All day he hadn't talked to her or even looked at her, which made her feel even worse about what she had done.  
  
Everyone was packing their bags with onions and filling their canteens with water as they would be leaving the next day when everyone was awake. Squid was talking to ZigZag and Xray, occasionally laughing making Chase feel weak in the knees.  
  
Zippy, who knew all about Chase's desire to apploigize, kept nudging her and nodding towards Squid every few minutes. Finally when Chase was sick of watching Squid from afar (not to mention getting poked in the arm by Zippy) she got to her feet and headed Squid's way.  
  
"Yeah, that was sweet," Squid was saying to Xray and ZigZag when Chase approached him.  
  
"Umm.....Squid, can I talk to you for a second?" she asked.  
  
All three of the boys stared at her in a confused sort of way.  
  
"Sure," Squid said, getting to his feet and following Chase over to the rocks they had kissed behind.  
  
"Do you hate me?" Chase asked, turning to face him.  
  
Squid looked completely confused now.  
  
"No........." he said slowly.  
  
"'Cause you've been ignoring me all day, and I can't help but think its 'cause I hit you earlier today, and I-"  
  
"No it's not that," Squid said with a laugh (Chase didn't see what was so funny about the whole thing). "I'm only doing what you wanted me to do," he replied.  
  
"Huh?" Chase asked.  
  
"Remember, you wanted me to stop following you and everything," Squid explained. "I said I only do that if you kissed me. I got what I wanted and now I'm giving you what you wanted."  
  
"Oh, yeah," Chase said with a laugh as if she had known this the whole time. "I just don't like having people all mad at me so I just had to make sure you know."  
  
Squid raised his eyebrow. "Sure........" he said. "You okay now?"  
  
"Yeah-of coarse," Chase laughed again.  
  
"Okay........" Squid said, eyeing Chase.  
  
"You can.....um.......go back now," Chase said embarrassedly.  
  
Squid shrugged and headed back to the Oasis.  
  
Chase hated herself. Why the hell had she ever been such a bitch to Squid? It only made things all terrible and complicated now-especially since Squid was nice enough to give Chase what she had said she wanted. Now she wanted him! But she couldn't tell him that; it would make her seem stupid and unsure.  
  
Sadly Chase walked back into the Oasis and sat down next to Zippy who wanted an answer.  
  
Chase shrugged. She didn't feel like going into details right now and she didn't want Zippy to start poking her again.  
  
Fidget woke up early the next morning, her stomache aching. She furrowed her brow in confusion then suddenly the realization hit her and she started panicing.  
  
"Lei! Lei! Wake up!" she cried, shaking Lei's shoulders.  
  
"What is it!" Lei said groggily.  
  
"It's an emergency!" Fidget cried, pulling Lei to her feet.  
  
Twitch stretched his arms and yawned; he was the second-to-last person to wake up (Armpit was the last).  
  
"Here we go again," Twitch said between yawns. "On the road again-whoo- everyone ready?-ha-hey where's Fidget?"  
  
The others shrugged.  
  
"Over here," Fidget said, walking into the Oasis from a hill of rocks she had been behind, Lei followed here with a look of plain pity on her face.  
  
"Hey Fidget-you ready to go?" Twitch asked excitedly.  
  
Fidget eyed him, her brow furrowed, before walking over to her back pack.  
  
All the D tent boys stared at each other in shock. Fidget had always come off to them as an ever-happy sweet sort of person; they had never seen her dis someone-especially Twitch.  
  
Twitch looked a little hurt but he had too much nervous energy to fret for long. "Well wake up Armpit!" he cried. "Let's go!-ha-I'm ready!"  
  
"Shut up Twitch!" Armpit cried, pressing his hands over his ears.  
  
"Sheesh! Touchy!" Twitch replied.  
  
"Not touchy just sleepy!" Armpit said, closing his eyes again and attempting to fall asleep.  
  
But Twitch wouldn't let him, he was too excited.  
  
"Hey Fidget can you hand me my canteen?" Squid asked; his canteen was lyeing near Fidget's back pack.  
  
"Get it yourself!" Fidget snapped.  
  
Squid and ZigZag stared at each other. Fidget didn't notice all the boy's shock and continued getting ready for the day.  
  
"You're face feeling better?" Zippy asked Static; none of the girls seemed to notice Fidget's touchiness.  
  
"Yeah," Static replied, "It only hurts a little bit now-like once every while." Her face was starting to look better; it wasn't AS purple anymore.  
  
Zero hiked his back pack straps over his shoulders. "What's wrong with Fidget?" he asked Zippy.  
  
But Zippy just raised her eyebrows in a questioning way.  
  
"Don't touch me!" Fidget snapped at Twitch who had just come up behind her.  
  
"Jeez! Sorry! You okay? What's wrong?" Twitch asked quickly.  
  
"Yes I'm okay!" Fidget replied shortly.  
  
"I'm all ready to go, who else is?" Lei asked.  
  
"I am," Chase and Static said.  
  
All the girls seemed to be ready but the boys seemed to be too occupied with Fidget's new attitude to get ready.  
  
"Don't worry guys," Lei said, putting her back pack on. "She's always bitchy when it's that time of the month."  
  
At first the boys weren't quite sure what Lei was talking about.  
  
"That means she just got her period," Chase explained with a laugh.  
  
Fidget glared at the boys. 


	29. The Risky Departure

Getting up and leaving God's Thumb was kind of a slow process as no one really wanted to leave. When everyone was packed and finished taking their last drinks from the pool they all began to hike back down the mountain.  
  
"Goodbye little mud-puddles," Armpit said, taking one last look at The Oasis before they turned a corner and it vanished from sight.  
  
Chase would remember God's Thumb for ever; not only was it the place where they had all found refuge when they had needed it most but it was also the place where she kissed the boy she loved. That's right, Chase finally admitted to herself that she was MADLY in love with Squid, but this piece of information was still a secret only to herself. Zippy knew Chase FINALLY liked Squid but she wasn't informed about just how crazy Chase was over him. Everytime Chase just glanced at Squid she had a strong urge to run over to him and start kissing him-right in front of everyone. But she knew that was stupid and always did her best to contain herself.  
  
Zippy would also remember God's Thumb forever, but unlike Chase, she wasn't tortured with a secret admiration-she and Zero had kissed a lot already! They had made out hidden behind some rocks for what seemed like hours the day after their first kiss. And now they gave each other little kisses every now despite the others teasing.  
  
The romances going around him made Xray a little bit jealous. He knew Armpit, Lei, Magnetic, Magnet, Squid, and Chase weren't really falling in love with anyone but he still he felt left out. He always watched Rogue longingly but she never even glanced his way! In fact, ever since the boys had arrived at the Oasis she hadn't looked or talked to anyone. She always kept to herself, sitting in dark corners and such, her arms crossed and her brow furrowed. Even now as everyone walked down the mountain Rogue hurried far ahead of everyone and sometimes she even vanished from everyone's sight.  
  
Fidget's bad mood did not improve as the fourteen of them traveled. The girls of D tent seemed never to notice Fidget's touchiness, nor did they ever really bother her. But the boys of D tent couldn't help noticing. Fidget snapped at everyone all day long, and even cussed a little which none of the boys had ever heard her do. One time she even took a swing at Twitch because he couldn't help going up to her and trying to talk to her (nervous energy). But Twitch ducked the blow and after that he didn't bother Fidget AS much.  
  
The whole while they were walking Chase kept nudging Zippy in the arm and nodding towars Magnetic and Magnet. They were bot at the very end of the group-on completely opposite sides. But every now and then Magnet would glance at Magnetic-or the other way around. But if Magnetic was staring at Magnet and he caught her she would always end up sticking her tongue out at him or flipping her off or something. Zippy would always return Chase's nudges by rolling her eyes or glaring at Chase.  
  
"Chase, just get it through your head that they DO NOT like each other!" Zippy would say.  
  
"Sheesh, stubborn aren't you," Chase would reply. "Just wait, you'll see."  
  
But Zippy never saw anything but hatred between Magnetic and Magnet and she wondered if Chase was losing it.  
  
When Zippy wasn't telling Chase that she had to be going mad she was talking to Zero, who was always walking right beside her. Sometimes they would talk about the days before them, or what they would do when they got back home, or about Zero's mom and where she could be, or what they wanted most right then.  
  
"I wanna big bowl filled with cookies and cream ice cream!" Zippy said one day. "It's the BEST!!!!!"  
  
"I want pizza!" Zero had said, gazing at the sky as if it looked appetizing to him. "Pepperoni pizza with extra, extra cheese!" he said grinning.  
  
"Would you guys SHUT UP!!!!? I'm starving here!" Magnetic had snapped at them.  
  
"Onion?" Armpit said, gesturing an onion he'd taken a big bite out of at Magnetic.  
  
Magnetic had wrinkled her nose and shook her head.  
  
The group walked on this way for about two hours before everyone had to stop and eat something.  
  
But they didn't stay sitting long (Magnetic the least) as some of the girls started screaming at a tarantula that was crawling over ZigZag's back pack. ZigZag just gentle brushed the tarantula off his bag though before continueing.  
  
It took about an hour more for D tent to reach the drop off from the ledge. As they looked down over the side of the mountain though they realized that it would be harder to climb down this thing than they had thought.  
  
Everything looked MUCH steeper from above, and they had already made most of the small crevices and ledges crumble when they had climbed up the mountain.  
  
"So..........anyone know how were getting down?" Xray asked.  
  
"Maybe there's an eaiser way to climb down the mountain on the other side?" Armpit suggested.  
  
"You want us to spend three more hours walking back to the Oasis just praying that there's an easier way down on the other side?" Xray asked, advancing on Armpit.  
  
"No," Armpit said quietly.  
  
"Guys, ya' think we could get down this way?" Chase asked. She was standing far to the left from everyone else, where the scenery was more rocky than smooth and path-like.  
  
Everyone walked over to Chase and looked down at where she was pointing. It looked as if there had been a land-slide as there were tons of broken rocks piled on top of each other. It looked like the easiest way down but it also looked kind of dangerous; some of the rocks looked as if they would fall if you stood on them.  
  
"So, are we gonna go down this way?" Chase asked, looking most at Squid for an answer.  
  
"Well, it's the only way down i can see," Xray replied. "Let's go."  
  
Chase started down the mountain followed by Zippy then Xray and Squid. Magnetic held back-that is until Magnet pushed her.  
  
"What, you scared chica?" Magnet asked, starting down the mountain himself.  
  
"No!" Magnetic said, she too began slowly climbing down. "I'm not scared," she mumbled to herself.  
  
"You can go ahead of me," Twitch said to Fidget.  
  
"What do you think I was planning to do?" Fidget snapped, pushing Twitch aside and making her own way down the mountain.  
  
"This is a lot easier," Zippy said to Chase as they climbed down the mountain. "Why couldn't we have climbed up this way?"  
  
"Come on Pit!!!" Xray shouted up. Everyone was climbing down now EXCEPT for Armpit, who was staring down at the large rocks and drops with wide eyes.  
  
"Armpit you made it up the steeper part of the mountain! You can climb down this easily!" ZigZag shouted.  
  
"Just don't fall on me," Chase mumbled, Zippy laughed.  
  
Armpit climbed down on to one of the rocks and soon found this was pretty easy.  
  
"See Pit!" Xray called.  
  
They all climbed for a while, not knowing how much time they had spent. The hardest part about climbing this part of the mountain was the fact that some of the members of D tent were too short to reach the next rock down and they would need help from one of the taller members of D tent. But other than that everyone descended down the mountain pretty quickly.  
  
"I can't wait 'till we get home," Zippy said. "I'll invite you to my house all the time Chase. We can hang out all the time."  
  
"I look forward to that," Chase said smiling.  
  
"How much more do we have to climb?" Zippy asked, trying to look over her shoulder as she hung from a very large rock. "I can't reach the next rock," she said, still trying to look over her shoulder.  
  
"Hang on," Chase said. "I'm almost down there."  
  
"Hurry up Chase!" Zippy called up. "I'm getting sick of hanging here."  
  
As Chase climbed down towards the rock Zippy was clinging to Zippy's fingers began to slip. Suddenly she was hanging from one arm, her view of the rock below perfect. It was a pretty small rock that would be tough to jump and land on.  
  
"Zippy, don't you dare try and jump that!" Chase siad seeing that look in Zippy's eyes. "I'm almost there, just hang on!"  
  
"I can make it!" Zippy called.  
  
"NO ZIPPY!" Chase cried as Zippy let go of the rock she'd been hanging onto and dropped down to the rock below her, landing on her feet.  
  
"See, I told you I could do it!" Zippy said triumphantly. But her triumph soon changed into shock and fear as the rock beneath her started rolling down the mountain, taking her with it.  
  
"ZIPPY!!!!!!" Chase screamed. 


	30. As the Dust Clouds Descended

Chase practically fell down the mountain herself as she raced down to where the rock Zippy had been standing on had fallen. She couldn't see Zippy as there was a large dust cloud at the base of the mountain now. She prayed Zippy was alright, she couldn't bare to think of what she would do if Zippy wasn't alright.  
  
Everyone else was also hurrying down the mountain, Zero in the lead. But none of them were as fast as Chase-after all she was Chase; she'd been running to and from people all her life. When Chase had arrived at Camp Lakeway she had been the youngest in D tent. All the other girls hadn't really liked her because the leader of D tent at the time, Forge, hadn't liked her. Chase had never had any friends at Camp Lakeway, and the only people that were really nice to her were Friction and Whipped Cream, though they were always too busy to hang out with Chase at all.  
  
"Hey Emily, get out of the way!" the girls would say, stepping on the back on Chase's shoe then pushing her into the dirt.  
  
But then Forge left and was replaced with a girl named Alicia, who was imediatly nicknamed Rogue as she seemed to hate everyone. But Rogue didn't help the problem of Chase having no friends. In fact it only made things worse as all the girls seemed to like Rogue more than Chase as she was tough. Chase hated it at Camp Lakeway-but that all changed when a girl named Nyssa arrived. At first Chase didn't like Nyssa-she was too bouncy.  
  
"What'chya' doin'?" she would ask Chase whenever Chase was writing a letter to her mom. Nyssa would always lean over Chase's shoulder and read what she wrote, making Chase very annoyed.  
  
One time Chase got so annoyed she shouted at Zippy. "Would you stop reading what i write to my mom!? It's MY letter and MY business so just go away!"  
  
Nyssa had stared at Chase in shock with big sad eyes. "Sorry," she had said quietly, before leaving the tent.  
  
Chase hated yelling at people and the fact that Nyssa never bothered here anymore was more annoying than when Nyssa had bothered her. Chase payed more attention to Nyssa after that and found that she was a really sweet girl. So Chase appoligized to Nyssa about snapping at her.  
  
"Really?" Nyssa had said very quickly. "I'm really sorry about reading your letters and annoying you-I mean they were your letters and you were right; it was none of my business to read them and i guess i just annoyed you all the time 'cause i've been kinda lonely ever since i got here and-"  
  
"Whoa, slow down Zippy," Chase had said, and the name had stuck, and so had their friendship.  
  
Now Chase's heart raced like crazy as she jumped onto the level ground where Zippy and the rock had fallen.  
  
"Zippy?" Chase said, squinting through the dust. Suddenly she saw Zippy's black hair spread out over the ground before her. "ZIPPY!" Chase screamed running over to her friend.  
  
Luckily the rock hadn't fallen on top of Zippy, but her eyes were closed and Chase couldn't feel her breath.  
  
"Zippy........" Chase cried, tears pouring from her eyes. "Zippy........" She lay her ear over Zippy's chest and to her relief could here her heart beating. But the tears wouldn't stop, and niether would the fearful beating of her heart; she couldn't bare to see her closest friend like this.  
  
"Zippy, Zippy please wake up!" Chase sobbed. "Zippy! Oh god, Zippy!"  
  
The others made it to the level ground and raced up to the place where Chase sat sobbing.  
  
"Zippy!" Zero cried, hurrying to her side and checking her pulse as Chase had done.  
  
"Well?" Lei asked, looking on the verge of tears herself.  
  
"She's alive," Zero replied. "Just unconscience."  
  
"Zippy, wake up!" Chase cried again.  
  
"Chase she's alright," Static said, kneeling down next to Chase. "Stop crying."  
  
But Chase couldn't stop-she the sobbing was lessend but tears still streamed from her red eyes.  
  
"You don't know that she's alright!" Chase snapped, her lower lip trembling. "You don't know anything!!!" She got up and walked away from everyone else; she couldn't stand seeing Zippy that way.  
  
Fidget walked over to her. Most of the other members of D tent hadn't thought this was a good idea as Fidget was always bitchy when she had her period, but Fidget insisted on it.  
  
"She'll be alright," Fidget said, standing right behind Chase. "She's tough, and you know it."  
  
Chase stood there a moment, her back turned on everyone, but then to everyone's (but Fidget's) surprise Chase turned around and hugged Fidget, crying into her shoulder.  
  
"Zippy?" Zero said, gently stroking Zippy's hair. "Zippy, wake up."  
  
Everyone was silent for a while, just watching-then...........  
  
"Huh?" Zippy said. Her voice was very quiet and cracked as she squinted up at everyone.  
  
"Zippy!" Zero cried, constraining himself from grabbing her and squeezing her tight.  
  
"What happened?" Zippy asked quietly, rubbing her forehead.  
  
"You fell," Static replied.  
  
Chase stopped sobbing into Fidget's arm. "ZIPPY!" she screamed again, running over to Zippy's side. "Oh my god! You're alive! You lived! Are you okay? Oh my god!" Chase started crying again as she gently stroked Zippy's cheek to feel the warmth of life in it.  
  
"Yeah...............I'm okay," Zippy replied. She tried to sit up but instantly fell back. "My head!" she moaned in agony.  
  
"Just lay down," Chase said.  
  
"No...............we hafta go................we hafta get home," Zippy insited.  
  
"But Zippy you're in no condition to start walking again," Lei said.  
  
"But we hafta go!" Zippy cried. "We have to!"  
  
"Zippy you can walk all that way!" Chase said.  
  
"We.........hafta.....................go," Zippy closed her eyes again.  
  
"I could carry her?" Xray suggested.  
  
"We could take turns carrying her," Squid suggested.  
  
Chase stared at him. Ever since Zippy had fallen she had completely forgotten about her love for Squid but now it came back and stabbed her in the heart like an arrow. She wouldn't mind being carried by Squid. She looked back at Zippy who was breathing heavily in her sleep.  
  
"Okay," she replied.  
  
So it was settled; Squid was going to carry Zippy first, then Xray, then ZigZag.  
  
Squid bent down and to lift Zippy up, but first paused as his eyes met Chase's. She was so beautiful, even when he cheeks were covered in tears. He probably would have kissed her then and there if he didn't want to make her mad. He loved her too much to break his promise, he just wished she loved him back.  
  
Squid picked Zippy up and everyone began moving away from the landslide, out towards the desert, the sun, the road home. 


	31. Escourting Zippy

Walking fro hours across the dry desert was actually a lot easier now than it had been before D tent found God's Thumb. Not only were all of them rested and fed but they were also stronger and more expirienced. They all could walk longer with less rest-even the boys who had to carry Zippy.  
  
Chase always walked behind which ever boy was carrying Zippy so she could see her face and talk to her when she woke up. Zippy rarely ever woke up as they all walked but when she did she always wanted to know where they were and how long they had been walking. Chase was always there to answer.  
  
"I wonder how long she'll be out of it," Squid said to Chase one time-it was his turn to carry Zippy again.  
  
"I dunno," Chase replied sadly. "I hope not too long; it's pretty quiet without her bouncing around all the time."  
  
"Yeah," Squid agreed. He glanced over at Chase who was walking beside him, but she was looking sadly at the dry ground beneath them rather than him.  
  
"It was nice how you comforted Chase-ha-real nice," Twitch said to Fidget.  
  
Fidget still had here period, and she still wasn't very happy, but the whole Zippy ordeal had made her realize what a bitch she had been. "Yeah," she agreed. "Listen Twitch," she started playing with her braids, "I'm really sorry about snapping at you earlier today-I was being a real jerk."  
  
"Ha-that's okay," Twitch said smiling.  
  
"No really," Fidget insisted. "I wanna make it up to you." She stopped Twitch in his steps and kissed him.  
  
When the kiss was over Twitch still stood there his eyes closed-it was probably the longest he'd ever stood completely still.  
  
"Wow," he said after a while, opening his eyes and twitching again. "Whoo! Ha!" He was grinning from ear to ear as he started walking along with everyone else again.  
  
"Hahahaha!" Magnet laughed. "The little man got kissed!"  
  
"Well at least he has a bigger love life than you do," Magnetic snapped.  
  
"Go to hell," Magnet replied darkly.  
  
"WOULD YOU GUYS JUST SHUT UP?!!!" Chase cried. "God, I'm getting sick of your stupid brawling! Just kiss and make up already!"  
  
"Me kiss him? NO WAY!" Magnetic cried. "NEVER! I'd rather die than even get close enough to kiss him!"  
  
"Oy vey," Chase said rolling her eyes.  
  
Squid started laughing. "You think they like each other also?" he asked.  
  
"Definitly," Chase replied. "Why? You agree?"  
  
"Yeah, I mean isn't it obvious?" Squid replied, "They're always lookin' at each other and talking to each other and stuff; they just have to much pride to admitt anything."  
  
"Yeah............" Chase said quietly; she could relate.  
  
"So," Squid said, Squid said changing the subject. "What do you look forward to most when you get home?"  
  
"What don't i look forward to?" Chase asked. "Aw, my mom, my dog, my nice soft bed, my friends from school-everything! Why, what do you look forward to the most?"  
  
"I dunno," Squid replied, a hazy look in his eyes. "Not my mom, that's for sure........"  
  
Chase felt really sorry for Squid again. "It must be tough living with an alchoholic, eh?" she asked, building up her bravery."  
  
Squid gave a heartless laugh. "You have no idea," he said, shifting Zippy's weight to his left arm making her head bobble for a second before resting on Squid's left shoulder.  
  
Chase stroked Zippy's hair every now and then-one time as she was doing so her hand brushed past Squid's ear; she had embarrassedly pulled her arm back and hadn't stroked Zippy's hair for a long time after that.  
  
"It's so hot out!" Magnetic complained later that day.  
  
"I know," Chase agreed. "My head is frying."  
  
"Wanna wear my hat?" Squid suggested.  
  
Chase was too in love with Squid to answer imediately. To wear his hat would probably be the next best thing to kissing him. But Squid took it the wrong way.  
  
"Don't worry," he said with a laugh. "I don't have lice or anything." He took his cap off and held it out for Chase.  
  
"You don't wanna use it?" Chase asked.  
  
"Naw, I got this," Squid replied, pulling the do-rag back over his head.  
  
Chase took the hat, hesitated for a moment, then set it on her head. "Thanks," she said quietly.  
  
"Anytime," Squid replied smiling.  
  
Embarrassedly Chase turned her head the other way as she blushed. Lei and Static grinned at each other.  
  
"Let's rest here for a while," Xray said, sitting down on one of the few rocks that jutted out of the ground.  
  
Chase sat down on the ground. "You can lay her here," she said to Squid.  
  
Squid set Zippy down on the ground before Chase then sat down on a rock next to Xray. Zero sat down on the ground next to Zippy and Chase and stared sadly at Zippy.  
  
Chase watched him for a moment. "So you really do love her don't you?" Chase said smiling.  
  
Zero looked a little bashful but nodded all the same.  
  
"And you and Squid?" he asked. "Is there a connetion there?" he grinned.  
  
"I dunno," Chase said a little shyly. "No, not really."  
  
"That's too bad," Zero said, still grinning. "Squid's a great guy you know."  
  
"So I'm told," Chase replied smiling. "So..........what are you gonna do when you get home?"  
  
"I don't-I don't really have a home," Zero said sadly.  
  
"Oh," Chase looked taken aback. "Zippy never mentioned that."  
  
"Yeah, it's okay," Zero said seeing the questioning look on Chase's face. "First me and my mom were living lots of places-then we lived no where. It wasn't that bad though, i mean at least i still had her and she had me. We usually slept at this park-Laney Park, i would always sleep in the tunnel under the slide."  
  
Chase studier Zippy's pale face in sadness; did all the members of D tent have terribly upseting backgrounds?  
  
Zero went on; "Then one morning I woke up and my mom wasn't there. So I left the park looking for her-i should've just stayed there, but.........." Zero trailed off, his eyes fell. "I never saw her again," he said quietly. "I remember she used to try so hard to make a better life for us; but things just didn't work out that way you know?"  
  
Chase nodded-and she'd thought her life was dramatic! She tried to imagine what life would be like to be sleeping in a tunnel at a playground every morning, and then waking up to complete lonliness.  
  
"Do you mind me asking what you did to get arrested?" Chase asked.  
  
"I stole Clyde Livingston's shoes," Zero replied.  
  
"Really?" Chase asked in surprise.  
  
Zero nodded. "They were on auction at this homeless shelter I went to when the weather was bad-if I could find someone to pretend to be my my mom; If they knew i didn't have a mom they would have made me a ward of the state. This one day I went to the shelter I just found the shoes there on display- I didn't know the shoes were famous or anything-there was a sign but back then i couldn't read at all. I just thought the shoes were someones old shoes and i thought it would be better to take someone's old shoes than steal a new pair. So i just took them, put them on, and walked out of the shelter," Zero shrugged. "No one seemed to notice at first, but the next thing i knew everyone was bawlin' out 'The shoes are gone! The shoes are gone!' So i took them and set them on top of this parked car. The next day I got caught stealin' a new pair of shoes from a Payless." Zero smiled.  
  
Chase shook her head. "All that craziness and you didn't even get caught," she said with a laugh.  
  
Zero grinned. "Yeah.......It was kinda' funny in a way; I was just standin' there in the shoes and everyone was running around me yellin' about the shoes and everything."  
  
Chase laughed. "And then you got caught the next day stealing from a Payless; who would have guessed?" she laughed.  
  
Zero shrugged. "So," he said. "What did you do to get arrested?"  
  
Chase studied his face for a moment and decided sh'e had enough tears for day. "I'll tell you another day," she replied.  
  
Zero raised his eyebrow.  
  
"I promise!" Chase insisted.  
  
Zero smiled. "I'm holdin' you on your promise," he said grinning.  
  
"I look forward to it," Chase said with a laugh.  
  
Zippy opened her eyes and looked around.  
  
"Where are we?" she asked slowly, her voice was still very feeble and cracked.  
  
"Somewhere in the middle of the desert," Chase replied.  
  
"How long have we been walking?" Zippy asked again.  
  
"For hours and hours and hours," Zero replied.  
  
"Why have we stopped walking?" Zippy asked.  
  
Chase laughed. "Everyone needs a break Zip!"  
  
Zippy gave a great sigh.  
  
"You're just dieing to get home aren't you?" Zero asked Zippy.  
  
Zippy grinned. "I had a dream that I was at home and I woke up believing I really was home," she said. "It was a good dream," she smiled. "All of you guys were in it."  
  
Zero grinned. "Ooh!"  
  
Zippy laughed, but her laugh was hoarse and it made Chase feel really bad.  
  
"She's awake?" Squid asked, he and coming over to see if Zippy was okay.  
  
Zero grinned at Chase.  
  
"Hi there," Zippy said staring up at Squid and Xray.  
  
"Hey," Squid said, kneeling down beside her. "You feelin' any better."  
  
"Kind of," Zippy replied. "I'm still really dizzy and I'm sore all over."  
  
Squid smiled in sympathy.  
  
"Well we've come a long way since we started," Xray reassured Zippy.  
  
"That's good," Zippy said yawning. "Aw man, I'm still sleepy."  
  
"Sleep all you want Zippy," Lei said smiling. "You've got three strong, handsome guys carrying you everywhere."  
  
Zippy's eyelids fluttered as she slowly drifted off to sleep again.  
  
"We better get going," Xray said, picking Zippy up. "We still have a really long ways to go."  
  
"Yeah," Squid agreed. He stared at Chase a minute or two though before turning and following Xray.  
  
Zero grinned a big clownish grin at Chase who just rolled her eyes. 


	32. Magnetic Sees the Road

The mail box was practically full as the Warden opened it and pulled out all the thick envelopes.  
  
The Warden read the address of each letter as she walked back to her cabin; "Allie, Nyssa, Brian, Rex, Mahina, Nyssa, Margie, Willow, Theodore.............." the Warden trailed off; almost every letter in her hands was address to someone from D tent. She didn't know what she was going to do; if the kids' parents didn't recieve a responce would they worry? Would they call to check in on their child? Would they get suspicious?  
  
Every day since the members of D tent had all ran away the Warden had become even more of a nervous wreck; thinking of all the bad things that could come of this-all the bad things that could happen to her! The Warden had now nearly completely lost her cool as it had been nearly four weeks since D tent had left. All the councelors and juvenile deliquents had even noticed the huge difference in the Warden's attitude, most of them using this to their advantage.  
  
There was a suggestion box at Camp Green Lake that had been Mr. Pendanski's idea. No one had ever payed much attention to the box though. Most of the suggestions put into the box were things like "Get pizza delivered for dinner." Or "Why don't councelors dig one day a week, to see what it's like?" Yeah right. Before the Camp Lakeway girls had arrived at Camp Green Lake one boy suggested "Friday-night dances with a Girl Scout camp." You can guess if that idea was ever taken seriously.  
  
But now everyone seemed to be using the suggestion box as the Warden was too busy freaking out to really, and carefully, read the suggestions (which had normally been Mr. Pendanski's job).  
  
One boy had suggested five minute showers. The next day everyone enjoyed five minutes of Heaven in stead of four. So then a girl suggested six minute showers. Three days later their time in Heaven was expanded. And that's when all the other juvenile delinquents got the idea. "A new TV in the Wreck Room!" "Shorter shovels!" "Twenty minute showers!" "Less time of digging more time of relaxing!" "Three foot holes!" All of these suggestions are examples of what didn't even get read by the Warden-even though she was a nervous wreck she still had some of her pride left. "Build actual stall walls with a door on the 'Girls' Shower." "Once a month each tent should be able to call home." "You just HAVE to get someone to clean our filthy bathrooms!!!!" These were some of the suggestions that did get put into action. Mr. Sir and one of the other male councelors were to be seen with hammers and nails all day, working on the shower stall. The Warden actually let kids use her phone in her nice, air-conditioned cabin; so one day of one month everyone from A tent would get to call home, one day of the next month B tent would get to call home, and so on. A laugh riot seemed to break out in Camp Green Lake when everyone saw Mr. Sir on his hands and knees, wearing an apron, and srubbing the bathroom floors. Life was getting more livable at Camp Green Lake and it was all thanks to D tent.  
  
"See girl, what'd we tell you," Beenie said to Potpourri one day after they had showered in their new shower stall. "You're livin' in the legendary D tent!"  
  
If D tent had known they were legendary Xray might have tried to take all the credit. "Oh yeah, that was me! I came up with the whole idea to leave Camp Green Lake!" he might say at a Welcome-Home speech presented before all of Camp Green Lake.  
  
But none of them knew they were legendary-or even missed as they marched across the desert.  
  
"So, does anyone know how much further this road is?" Armpit asked, looking to Static for answers.  
  
Static shrugged. "All I ever knew was that it was east," she replied.  
  
"Urgh!" Magnetic cried, dragging her feet across the ground. "We've been walking forever!"  
  
"Don't say anything!" Chase warned Magnet, he closed his mouth.  
  
"Even when we reach the roadwe still have a long ways to go," Static said. "My house is really far away from here."  
  
"Yeah but as soon as we reach a busier road there will be buses that can pick us up and stuff," Chase reassured her.  
  
"Hopefully," Zippy said. She was being carried by ZigZag now and she was talking over his shoulder to Chase.  
  
"Don't worry," Chase replied. "The buses actually go out pretty far."  
  
Zippy sighed. "But what about the money for the buses?" she asked. "I didn't bring any money when i was sentenced to Lakeway; my mom said I wouldn't be needing any."  
  
"I got money," Squid said.  
  
"You sure you have enough money?" Zippy asked smiling.  
  
"Naw," Squid said, shaking his head.  
  
"I have a little bit of money," Static said, pulling her wallet out of her back pack and counting the wad of bills. "I have like twelve dollars and fifteen cents," she concluded.  
  
"Will that be enough?" Fidget asked.  
  
"I dunno," Chase replied. "Depends on how much everyone else has. Remember we are really far out here; we might have to take like three or four buses just to get home."  
  
Fidget raised her eyebrows. "That many? Whoa......."  
  
Everyone carried on for about three hours before Magnetic screamed out and shocked everyone.  
  
"THE ROAD!!!" she scream. "OH MY GOD WE'RE ALMOST THERE ALREADY!!!! LOOK!!! LOOK!!! THE ROAD!!!!!!!!" Magnetic started running forward, still screaming.  
  
Everyone else stared wildly around in confusion; they didn't see any road.  
  
But Magnetic kept running. "THE ROAD!!!! COME ON YOU GUYS!!!! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!!!!!!!" Magnetic stopped and stared back at everyone as if they were crazy. "What's wrong with you guys? Can't you see the road.........." Magnetic turned back and stopped. She stood there just staring for a while before starting to freak out. "But the road? I know I saw it! I'm not crazy! It was just there! Where'd it go! WHERE'S THE ROAD?!!!"  
  
"She delirious," Magnet whispered to Squid.  
  
"Honey, there never was a road there," Lei said, walking up to Magnetic.  
  
"But-but I-" Magnetic stopped. When she turned around she looked as if she would cry.  
  
"It was probably just a mirage," Lei said. "We've all seen them all the time," she lied, trying to reassure Magnetic that she wasn't going mad.  
  
Magnetic glared at Lei as if she was the reason the road had suddenly disappeared. "I know you all think I'm crazy," she snapped.  
  
Magnet stiffled a laugh.  
  
"We don't think you're crazy," Fidget said.  
  
"I do," Magnet mumbled under his breath.  
  
Whether Magnetic had heard him or not she smirked at him as if she could read his mind.  
  
"Let's keep going," Static said. "It's almost time for us to stop and rest. You're just tired Magnetic, that's all."  
  
Magnetic hunched her shoulders and started walking again.  
  
"I hope we don't have to take turns carrying her also pretty soon," Squid whispered to Xray. 


	33. Sharing a Sheet with a Pyromaniac

Lei spread her sheet out on the ground. She and Fidget had been sharing a sheet ever since the boys had arrived as Fidget had let Twitch use her sheet. Twitch offered to share it with Fidget but at the time she thought that would have been kind of weird so Lei offered to share hers.  
  
They had been walking for about twenty minutes since the sun had gone down, and now everyone was getting ready to go to sleep. Chase held back, seeming polite as she let everyone lye down where they wanted. But her purpose wasn't to be polite, it was to get a spot next to Squid. When everyone had spread their sheet out or was sitting on the ground (leaving a small space next to Squid open) Chase stood there, putting on a show.  
  
"There's not much room left," she said in a worried voice. "Anyone have any room by them?"  
  
Zero had plenty of room beside him but knew what Chase was trying to do (he was the only one who knew what Chase was trying to do), so he spread out, making the large space beside him just barely a sliver.  
  
"No?" Chase asked looking around hopefully.  
  
"I could move over if you wanted?" Lei suggested.  
  
"But then you guys would be crowded," Chase said quickly.  
  
"Don't worry," Squid said. "There's room here," he said, gesturing to the space beside him.  
  
"You sure?" Chase asked him, trying not to seem TOO obvious. Zero lightly kicked her in the ankle.  
  
"I'm positive," Squid replied.  
  
Chase stepped over Static's legs to get over to Squid. "Hey," she said slowly, spreading her sheet out on the small space of ground she would be sleeping on. Then she looked from the sheet to Squid. "Do you wanna use this?" she asked.  
  
"Naw," Squid said, then he turned and continued a conversation he'd been having with Xray. Chase lyed back on her sheet and watched Squid-even though she couldn't see his face. She just wanted to wrap her arms around him and rest her head on his shoulder. She was a little bit jealous of Zippy for being able to sleep against him earlier. She thought about it for a second, thought about the possibilty of climbing back up the landslide and falling off it on purpose just so she could be carried by Squid. The idea made Chase laugh-that is until she realized she was laughing out loud.  
  
Squid turned and looked at her curiously. "What's so funny?" he asked.  
  
"Erm.......nothing," Chase said embarrassedly.  
  
Squid eyed her suspiciously.  
  
"You're sure it's nothing?" Lei asked with a laugh. "You were laughin' pretty darn hard girl."  
  
"Seriously-it was just a funny thought that came into my head-i didn't even know I was laughing out loud at first!" Chase replied.  
  
Squid gave her a charming-yet suspicious-smile that just made her want to scream.  
  
Chase lay back and stared up at the dark sky. There weren't that many stars out tonight-it was as if even the Heavens were mad at her for not sharing her true feelings with Squid. Chase rolled over to supress her new tears. Why was she so stupid? She told herself it was her fault Squid didn't love her anymore, it was her fault Zippy couldn't walk very well now, it was her fault all of them were out here starving for civilization and dodging rattle snakes and yellow spotted lizards. If she hadn't been so stupid and full of TOO much pride she would have just adjusted to Camp Green Lake, fallen in love with Squid, and had a great time even though she'd still have to dig holes in the hot sun all day. But what was worse; digging holes or crawling across the desert in search of a road that may not even exsist?  
  
"You okay?" someone said softly into her ear.  
  
Chase knew who it was, and she knew she definitly didn't want to look into their amazing eyes right now. So she nodded into her sheets indicating that everything was find and she was just really tired. But then that certain, special someone brushed Chase's hair away from her face-and she knew Squid knew she was crying-how did he always know? Chase turned to face him. "I'm just.........I'm just still sad about Zippy," Chase said, wiping away her tears. "It's all my fault she fell-if I had just climbed down to that rock faster I-" She started crying again.  
  
"It's not your fault," Squid said in a hushed voice. "These things just happen-everything just happens for a reason." He gave a little laugh and grinned. "Never thought I'd hear myself say that," he said.  
  
Chase smiled. She wiped away her most recent tears, thankful that she hadn't been wearing mascara when they left Camp Green Lake. "So," she said, "What have you and Xray been talking about all the time; you sure have been laughing a lot now?"  
  
"Oh, just stuff about Camp Green Lake and everything," he replied. "Stuff like how we used to think Olivia Danker was the hottest girl ever-but now she doesn't even compare to these other girls we know," he smiled at Chase.  
  
Chase turned away as she blushed. She wondered what Rogue would do if Xray said that exact same line; she would probably punch him in the face.  
  
"Goodnight," Squid said, still smiling. Then he turned away and gradually fell asleep.  
  
"I wonder if they found anyone to replace us at Camp Green Lake yet?" Zippy said. She was being carried by Squid even though she was awake and seemed well. The problem was that her legs weren't stronge enough to carry her yet, but other than that her health seemed to be back full throttle. Sure it was great that she was awake now, but she just wouldn't stop talking. It was as if she had been asleep for years and now had just woke up to a strange new world and had millions of questions about it.  
  
"Do you think they've replaced us yet Chase? Wouldn't it be weird if the people were a lot like us? I saw a movie like that one time-it was weird!"  
  
"Yeah Zip, our replacements are Squidlet, Xbox, Ziggers, Magnetic's twin, Twitchy, Zerowina, and Double Pit," Chase said with a laugh.  
  
"I resent that," Armpit said, but he was smiling all the same.  
  
"Yeah and the boy's replacements are Chaser, Rowge, Electro, Magnet's twin, Digit, Zippo, and Hula," Zippy said smiling.  
  
"Zippo?" Chase asked with a laugh.  
  
"But do you really think we have been replaced?" Zippy asked.  
  
Chase shrugged. "Only if the Warden's gone mad I suppose; I mean why would she let us get replaced when that risks the chance of people finding out we're gone? The Warden doesn't want to lose her job."  
  
"Was the Warden at Camp Lakeway anything like the Warden at Green Lake?" Zero asked.  
  
Chase and Zippy started laughing. "No way!" they said together.  
  
"See," Zippy explained. "The Warden at Lakeway didn't even seem like he was ready to run a camp full of criminals. He was too shy and feeble and stuff."  
  
"Yeah," Chase agreed. "I kinda' feel sorry for him; he spent most of his time hiding behind his desk."  
  
"Well I don't feel sorry for him," Lei said. "He banned us from listening to music while we dug!"  
  
"You could have just attacked him," Magnetic said. "He would have given you anything you wanted-I know."  
  
"You were one of those girls who was scaring that poor guy all the time?" Fidget asked.  
  
"So what if I was?" Magnetic said. "If he didn't want to be around criminal girls and all that comes with them he shouldn't have applied for the job!"  
  
"He didn't apply for that job," Static explained. "It was the family business-he had to do it!"  
  
"Yeah, his aunt ran the camp before he did," Chase said. "She was around when I got there-and when Rogue was there, but she left before Zippy got there."  
  
Xray turned to look at Rogue but she was still ignoring everyone.  
  
"Man, that woman was horrid!" Chase continued. "I feel really sorry for that guy; not only was he forced to run a juvenile correctional facility but he also had a terrible family-he was the only small and scrawny one in his family!"  
  
"So this guys aunt was worse than the Warden at Green Lake?" Twitch asked.  
  
Chase nodded, her eyes wide. "WA-AY worse!" she said. "We couldn't even listen to music in the privacy of our tents-she took our walkmans away when we arrived at Camp Lakeway!"  
  
"Urgh, that must have sucked," Lei said.  
  
"Oh yeah," Chase said. "God Camp Lakeway was Hell before she left."  
  
"Didn't you have any friends there?" Squid asked.  
  
"Not until Zippy got there," Chase said. "Everyone in my tent was a lot older then me-and all of them were stupid bitches," Chase scowled at the memory. "My only friends were two of our councelors; Friction and Whipped Cream."  
  
"Mmm! Whipped Cream," Magnetic said, licking her lips. Magnet eyed her coldly.  
  
"I wonder what's become of Whipped Cream since he was let go from Lakeway?" Fidget asked.  
  
"I'm sure he's doin' just fine," Static said with a laugh. "He's probably got it good at where ever he works now as his boss's daughter is DEFINITLY after him!"  
  
"Yeah," Lei said in a dreamy voice.  
  
The boys of D tent looked at each other with wide eyes.  
  
"Oh please," Zippy said. "I never thought Whipped Cream was that hot!............Not as hot as Zero is anyway!"  
  
Zero smiled up at her.  
  
"Well I always thought Whipped Cream was hot, and I really miss him," Magnetic pouted.  
  
Magnet glared at her, though she didn't notice.  
  
"Yeah, that's great," ZigZag said. "Now can we talk about something else?"  
  
"Aw," Static said, leaning against ZigZag. "The guys feel left out!"  
  
"Don't worry," Fidget said grinning. "You guys are WAY hotter than Whipped Cream."  
  
Twitch smiled and moved closer to Fidget as if he was hoping for another kiss, but she didn't seem to get the message and just kept walking.  
  
"Does anyone have a lighter?" ZigZag asked.  
  
Static stared at him in confusion. "What could you possibly want to burn?" she asked. "It's sweltering hot out here-a fire wouldn't help anything!"  
  
ZigZag shrugged, and shook his head.  
  
"He says he likes to watch things burn," Squid said with a laugh.  
  
ZigZag looked embarrassed.  
  
"Oh," Static mouthed.  
  
"Yeah, I used to burn things all the time-I guess I'm kinda like a pyro or something," Zigzag grinned a little crazily.  
  
Everyone stared at him with wide, wary eyes. 


	34. Magnetic's Little Shocker

"I'm not lieing! I'm not delirious! Jesus! It's right there damn it!" Chase pointed frantically forward.  
  
"I see it...I SEE IT!!!" Zippy said, squinting to try and make out the road beyond that Chase was pointing out. Zippy could finally walk on her own again and seemed happy and rested, as she would jump around more often now, and she made sure everyone knew how much stronger her legs were by running around everyone now and then.  
  
"YES!!!! We're almost there!" Magnetic cried, quickening her pace.  
  
"Finally, now I'm closer to getting home where I don't have to listen to Magnetic's annoying voice!" Magnet said with a grin.  
  
Squid's heart fell. He hadn't really thought of what would happen when he got home, but now he realized he would never see Chase, or any of the other D tent members, again, and he would be stuck at home with an alcoholic mother. Was being stuck out her in the middle of a desert really that bad? He'd have to tell Chase how he felt about her soon, before it was too late. He even considered grabbing her at that moment and confessing his love to her in front of everyone else, but thought against it as Chase had started hurrying towards the road.  
  
It took about twenty minutes for all of D tent to reach the useless and barren dirt road.  
  
"Wow," Armpit said, his eyes following the road until it disappeared in the haze beyond. "Looks like no body's used this road for years and years!"  
  
"We won't be finding any buses for miles and miles," Chase said sadly.  
  
"Well so much for the burst of happiness I just experienced for weeks!" Magnetic huffed.  
  
Magnet snickered.  
  
"Come on guys, we've got a long ways to go yet," Chase said, nodding in the direction they would be following the road.  
  
Two hours later they all stopped and took a break. But there resting time was little as everyone was too anxious to get home. So after a meal of onions, beans, and dirty water all fourteen of them were back on there feet again and slumping down the road. Another two hours had passed and the sun was setting as everyone took another break to rest their sore legs and stretch their aching backs.  
  
"My arms, back, AND legs hurt soooo bad!" Magnetic complained.  
  
"Thanks for sharing," Chase grumbled.  
  
"So stretch 'em out!" Lei said, she was now bending over backwards to stretch her back.  
  
Magnetic, wanting to show she could do anything better than Lei smirked. "Fine then," she said. "I'll do cartwheels and back-bends and stuff."  
  
"Cartwheels?" Fidget asked in surprise.  
  
"And back-bends?" Static added. "Magnetic don't you think you're too tired to do stuff like that?"  
  
"No!" Magnetic said with a laugh as if this were obvious. "I used to be the top in my gymnastics class; this will all be easy!"  
  
"She was in gymnastics when she was nine though," Zippy whispered to Zero.  
  
Zero smiled, holding back a laugh.  
  
Everyone watched as Magnetic prepared herself to do a cartwheel. She raised her tired arms up over her head and pointed her right foot out before her. Then she began to flip over, first putting weight on her right foot, then her right hand, then her left hand. Normally she would have continued passing her weight to her left foot and then to both feet as she finished the cartwheel but this time was different. When she moved her weight to her very sore left hand she lost control over her perfect cartwheel; her left wrist bent, she wobbled in the air for a second, and then came crashing down on her back, her wrist still bent under the weight of her body.  
  
Magnet couldn't help laughing loudly and clapping his hands with glee--well maybe he could.  
  
"Are you alright?" Lei said, hurrying to help Magnetic up.  
  
But Magnetic just shoved Lei out of the way, jumped to her feet, and angrily started down the road again, everyone else hurrying to catch up.  
  
So onward they all went, Magnet still laughing and making sure to remind everyone of Magnetic's 'clumsy cartwheel' (even though everyone pretty much ignored him).  
  
The next day as everyone walked through the mid-day sun, sweat trickling from there foreheads, they came across a fork in the road. It was an empty quiet scene; a long weathered post in the ground that had once been a street sign, a cold and sinister feel as the small breeze whispered as it whipped sand into there faces. The crossroads seemed almost blank and ghostly; the golden sand and dirt that flooded it (though appearing to be exactly like the sand and dirt D tent had trodden on just hours before) seemed lighter, as if it had never been touched by a human limb.  
  
As Chase moved closer to the two roads it reminded her of the burrial grounds where wooden crosses had been posted; the wooden crosses that had been used to support people, people who would be tortured for years and eventually killed. Chase had read about all this before in a book she had been assigned to read in school. Just reading about it had made her feel sick to her stomache, and even now as she stepped into the middle of the two roads she felt a shiver run up her spine.  
  
As Squid approached the crossroads he acquired a feeling of emptiness and depression; it reminded him of his mom.  
  
Zippy looked over the barren land that surrounded them with sorrowful eyes. "This place is kinda' creepy," she said quietly.  
  
"Oh my god! Watch out Zippy! The Crossroad is coming after you!" Magnetic said in a phony voice you would normally hear in a horror flick.  
  
"Shut up!" Zippy said.  
  
"Come on guys," Chase said. "We better get a move on." Chase wanted to leave this place as soon as possible, as now rather then feeling completely hot and bothered she felt freezing cold and ill.  
  
As the group continued on they came across more crossroads, as if this place had once been a city or something, hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Five hours after coming across the first crossroad, as the group slumped along the side of the road (which had expanded into a wider road a few miles back) they heard a sound which they had not heard for weeks and weeks.  
  
"CAR!" Twitch cried, Jumping up and staring forth with wide eyes.  
  
"OH MY GOD!!! CAR!!!! DO YOU GUYS SEE THE CAR?!!!! WE'RE SAVED!!! WE'RE SAVED!!!!! IF I'M SEEING THINGS RIGHT NOW THEN THIS REALLY SUCKS!!!!" Magnetic had started jumping up and down excitedly.  
  
"You aren't seeing things!" Chase cried happily. She started jumping up and down, waving her arms around, hoping to catch the eye of the driver.  
  
Squid, Xray, and Zigzag stuck their thumbs way out into the road like hitch- hikers, and Zippy almost ran out into the middle of the road-that is until she was stopped by Static.  
  
But despite all their efforts the balding man with glasses in the drivers seat didn't even look their way as he zoomed past.  
  
"FUCK YOU!!!!" Squid yelled, holding his middle finger high in the air.  
  
"NO!!!!! COME BACK!!!!!!" Chase screamed, running after the small blue car. But soon it was out of sight and all of D tent was left to slump back down the road, cursing and turning back to spit in the direction the car had gone.  
  
"Well at least now we know that some cars drive down this road," Zippy said quietly.  
  
"Yeah, only cars that are driven by fucking bastards," Chase spat, looking darkly back down the road.  
  
"I'M GOING CRAZY!!!!!!!!!" Magnetic screamed suddenly, making everyone nearly jump out of their skin.  
  
"Jesus Crist chika! Tone it down a little would you?" Magnet snapped, glaring at her.  
  
Magnetic marched right over to Magnet and stopped him in his tracks. Though everyone had just been waiting for this to happen it came as a little surprise when Magnetic whacked Magnet across the side of the head.  
  
"Don't talk to me," she said in a dark voice that was a little creepy.  
  
Magnet looked taken aback and very pissed off, he had even begun to raise his hand a little to hit Magnetic back but came to his senses in time to put his hand back down.  
  
Magnetic walked back to the place she'd been walking earlier (on the opposite side of the group) and continued walking as if nothing had happened.  
  
Two hours later the members of D tent started jumping up and down again as in the distance they could see the faint outline and hear the low rumble of a car coming towards them. The boys stuck there thumbs out, the girls jumped and hollered, but again the heavy set man in the drivers seat just past them by (though he did look their way).  
  
"Urgh! I am getting SO fed up with these freaking people!" Chase cried. "Can't they see we're just kids?!"  
  
"I know," Zippy agreed angrily. "God, are they just heartless people or something?!"  
  
"Apparently," X-Ray said, sitting down in the dirt. "Come on guys, the sun is setting and we need to get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll run into the road if that's what it takes to flag a car down."  
  
"Yeah but with the size of these people's hearts they'll probably just run us all over!" Static grumbled, sitting down and resting her head against Zigzag's chest.  
  
"Hey does anyone have a lighter?" Zigzag asked.  
  
The next day as the sun rose high into the sky the members of D tent prepared themselves for another day of thirstation (if that were a word) and disappointment. They all dragged their feet across the ground, sheilding their eyes from the 'horrid sun' as Lei had started calling it. Chase pulled Squid's hat farther down on her forehead, blocking the sun from her veiw; she loved wearing it and smiled at Squid whenever he noticed her fidgeting with it.  
  
"It's so hot," Zippy complained, but her complaint was dry and monotoned and the feeling didn't quite get across to everyone else.  
  
"Dear God," Static prayed, clasping her hands together and closing her eyes as they walked. "Please let it rain today and rain HARD!" she gave a heartless laugh and opened her eyes. "Yeah right," she said sarcastically, shaking her head.  
  
They walked on in silence for a few minutes, all until Fidget started screaming "CAR! CAR!"  
  
This time when everyone started sticking their thumbs out and waving their arms they progressed into the streets (not the entire street but just enough to make the car slow down).  
  
And the car, driven by a scuffy looking man wearing a truckers hat, did slow down, but speeded right up again when it passed all of D tent.  
  
"Why do we even try?" Zigzag asked as they all moved to the side of the road again.  
  
Three hours later, when everyone had pretty much given up hope the low rumble of a car in the distance occurred again.  
  
"Why bother?" Chase said depressivly.  
  
"Because four is my favorite and luckiest number!" Zippy said, raising her thumb for the fourth time.  
  
"No, put your thumb down," Magnetic said, moving closer to the road, Zippy slowly obeyed. "I know how to make this guy pull over," Magnetic grinned.  
  
Chase raised her left eyebrow. Zippy shrugged and shook her head in return.  
  
As the car got closer and more visible Magnetic moved farther out into the road, everyone else stayed put on the side of the road as Magnetic had told them.  
  
"What's she doing now?" Magnet asked.  
  
Zigzag shrugged.  
  
The car rolled into perfect visibility and up went Magnetic's white shirt, revealing a pretty sheer bra--the kind that had all the fancy cut-outs and lacy trimmings. All the boys of D tent seemed blown away and VERY surprised; Magnet seemed like he was in Heaven. Magnetic kept her shirt up until suddenly she came running back to the group, her cheeks red, as the car gathered speed as it rolled past.  
  
"Holy shit!" Magnetic cried with a laugh.  
  
"What!?" Fidget asked urgently.  
  
Magnetic started laughing. "THAT WAS AN OLD LADY!" she cried, as she clutched her stomache with laughter.  
  
"Oh my God! Are you serious?!" Chase asked, beginning to laugh herself.  
  
Magnetic nodded, appearing not able to speak. "She...even..flipped me off and sped up!" she cried, gasping for breath.  
  
Zigzag started laughing also, pretending the shock of seeing Magnetic in her bra had worn off.  
  
Magnet still stood in the same place, his eyes wide, a grin spreading across his face. "Well," he said. "That was unexpected!"  
  
"Dude what are you talkin' about?!" Squid said with a laugh. "You've already seen her naked!"  
  
Magnet blushed. 


	35. Breaking the Bench

Chase grimaced as sand was whipped up into her face; she was surprised at how much windier (not to mention sandier) this road was, it was more like a beach than a desert-a beach with no water that is. Chase wondered what this whole desert must have looked like hundreds of years ago; a giant lake that went on for miles, a peaceful little village, a strange mountain on the other side of the lake that resembled a fist with the thumb pointed straight up into the air...  
  
Children smiling as they hurried down the steps of their newly furnished schoolhouse, the waft of onions in the air as someone called out "Onions, get your sweet onions!" Summer time filled the air; a sweet scent of peaches, sweeter, they say, then even the nectar of the Gods; the sweet ambrosia. A beautiful woman with light blonde hair embraces the onion man- not knowing what is to become of this.  
  
Chase jumped as someone had rested their hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Squid walking there beside her. Thinking he would talked to her she opened her mouth to speak but closed it again as Squid past her by. She realized that Squid, Zigzag, and Xray had just been trying to get around her as she had been walking too slowly for their liking; Squid had only placed his hand on her shoulder so he could get around her without bumping into someone else. Chase sighed.  
  
Squid hadn't known why he'd done it, he had just wanted to touch Chase. Without thinking he had just placed his hand on her shoulder, to pull her to him and embrace her. But luckily he had realized what he'd been doing and stopped himself in time. But there was still the matter of his hand on her shoulder; he couldn't take that back now. So he decided to cover for it by pulling Chase back a little ways and moving around her, pretending he thought she'd been moving to slowly. But this only made matters worse; now he couldn't even see her unless he turned all the way around, and you can guess how many times he did that!  
  
Zippy jogged along before everybody; now more anxious than ever to get home. Suddenly she slowed down and furrowed her brow. What would Zero do? She hadn't thought of this yet; she hadn't considered what would happen to Zero when they all got home. He didn't have a home. Zippy would have gladly offered her house but her parents wouldn't like the idea of two fourteen year olds of the opposite sex living in the same house. Two fourteen year olds sleeping in the same house. Two fourteen year olds being left home alone together when there was work to be done at the office. Zippy knew all of these things would come into her parent's minds if and when she asked them.  
  
"You're asking us if a fourteen-year-old boy you met at a camp for juvenile delinquents can live here?" they would probably say. Zippy knew what their final answer would be. But they couldn't just force Zero to live back out on the streets, to sleep in a tunnel at a park, to steal the things he needed from stores; that would be too cruel! She had to ask her parents, had to bribe her parents, even had to scream and yell at her parents if nessesary.  
  
She looked curiously over to Zero on her right, who smiled back at her.  
  
"We're almost there," Zero said, taking her hand in his. "Almost there."  
  
"Is that a-" Twitch squinted through the haze.  
  
"A bus stop!" Magnetic cried, she started running towards the tiny black line in the distance they were calling a bus stop, Magnet watching her every move.  
  
It was a bus stop sign but it wasn't really a great piece of architecture- nothing like the bus stops in cities and such. The weathered sign was wind bitten and crooked, as if someone had rammed into it. Beside the sign there was a very old bench that looked as if it would fall into pieces at a single touch of one's finger; the paint had all worn off and so had most of the wood, leaving a lot of splinters and holes. At a first glance you wouldn't even know the sign and the bench duo was a bus stop.  
  
"Doesn't look like any bus has come around here in years," Static said sadly.  
  
"This stinks!" Fidget said, plopping right down onto the bench. To everyone's surprise it didn't break. "Now we hafta keep walking for hours and hours and hours just to find a freakin' bus where we'll hafta pay lots of money just to get dropped off at the next bus station where we'll hafta pay lots of money just to get on the next freakin' bus!"  
  
"That, my friend, is life," Chase said, sitting down beside Fidget. The bench still didn't fall under their weight.  
  
"How many people do you think it would take to break that bench?" Squid asked.  
  
Everyone stared at him though they had all been wondering the same thing.  
  
"Dude, that is the stupidest question I've ever heard!" Zigzag said, laughing a little. "Lets try it out!" he sat down on the bench on the opposite side of Fidget. The bench still didn't break though it creaked a little bit.  
  
"Guys, this is stupid!" Chase said. "If you really wanna break this poor old bench why not just kick it down or jump on it or something?"  
  
"Where's the fun in that?" Squid asked, sitting down beside Chase. "Don't you wanna have a little fun before you die?"  
  
The way Squid said it and the way he was looking at Chase made her get the feeling he wasn't talking about breaking benches any more.  
  
"Come on Static!" Zigzag said, patting a spot on the bench beside him.  
  
A little reluctantly Static sat down beside Zigzag. The bench still didn't break.  
  
"Wow, this is a stronger bench than I thought," Squid said. "But no worries, we've still got plenty of people to pile on it."  
  
Magnet sat down next to Squid, the bench was becoming very crowded now.  
  
"Where am I gonna sit?" Twitch asked excitedly.  
  
Fidget stood up and gestured to the place where she'd been sitting.  
  
"But then where are you gonna sit?" Twitch asked.  
  
"On your lap," Fidget said as if it were a no-brainer.  
  
Twitch looked VERY excited now and he quickly sat down, wrapping his arms around Fidget's middle as she sat down on his lap. She started fidgeting with the collar of Twitch's shirt and you could tell she was excited too.  
  
"Come on Lei!" Static called.  
  
Lei looked very reluctant. "There's no where for me to sit," she said slowly.  
  
Zigzag pulled Static onto him. "You can sit here," he said, gesturing to Static's previous spot.  
  
Lei took a step forward but then paused again and bit her lower lip. "But won't it hurt when it falls over?" she asked.  
  
"Oh, who cares!" Squid cried. "Just sit down! It'll be fun!"  
  
Lei slowly sat down on the bench.  
  
They could feel it tremble but it still didn't break.  
  
The small bench was now extremely crowded and nobody had any room. But they were all enjoying the anticapation despite the fact that there was no more room.  
  
"We need more people!" Zigzag said. "Maybe like just one or two more people. Come on! Xray, Magnetic get over here!"  
  
"Where am I gonna sit?" Magnetic asked.  
  
"Oh move over!" Zippy cried. She jumped up on Chase's lap.  
  
"Geez Zip! Next time could ya' give me a warning?" Chase asked.  
  
Zippy grinned up at her. "Come on Zero!" she called.  
  
Zero slowly approached the bench and then jumped on it next to Zippy, it was too crowded to tell who he was sitting on.  
  
"Well that didn't really help!" Squid said. "They're to small!"  
  
Zippy and Zero both smiled.  
  
"Come on chica!" Magnet said, grabbing Magnetic by the arm and pulling her up onto his lap.  
  
The bench shook terribly and they could feel it wobbling beneath them but somehow it still stood.  
  
"Come on Xray! Armpit! Rogue!" Squid called.  
  
Xray jumped onto the bench over by Squid and Magnet, Rogue glared at everyone then turned away from them, and Armpit took a step forward.  
  
"Well, okay!" Armpit jumped onto the bench and back it fell, spitting pieces of broken wood and members of D tent everywhere.  
  
Chase landed on top of Squid and for a moment her lips touched his face until she quickly pulled back and stared at Squid with wide eyes, all the while he stared back. The other members of D tent started cracking up.  
  
"That was awesome!" Lei cried. "I wish we could do that again!"  
  
Zippy smiled broadly as Zero lay back, his head resting against her stomach. "Great idea Squid!" she said.  
  
Magnetic, who had fallen over Magnet and Xray had fallen over her, got up, brushed the dirt away from her shirt and smiled. "That was pretty fun!" she said.  
  
"Whoo! Ha-that was great!" Twitch laughed, Fidget was lying on the ground next to him, also laughing.  
  
"What'd you think Chase?" Zippy asked.  
  
Chase forced her eyes away from Squid's and smiled at Zippy. "That was fun," she said.  
  
Squid smiled. "See," he proved. "Told ya' it'd be fun! You're on your way Chase."  
  
Again Chase thought he was refering to something else-something MORE fun he was thinking about. She didn't think on this long though as soon all the members of D tent were back on their feet, walking down the lonely dirt road again. 


	36. The Bus Station

"It is so hot I think I'm gonna puke!" Fidget cried, clutching her stomach.  
  
"You know, if these guys weren't here we wouldn't have to wear these freakin', ORANGE jump suites," Magnetic said, enjoying the attention she now got from the boys ever since she had lifted her shirt up. Magnet was practically drooling over her all the time now. Magnetic still wasn't swayed by Magnet, but she couldn't hide her glee as she loved having someone goggling at her every second.  
  
"Well at least now we're almost to that bus stop up ahead," Xray said.  
  
It had been miles since the members of D tent had spotted the bus station in the distance, and it had been even more miles since they had started seeing a different car pass them about every four minutes. But as they had all happily raced towards the bus station they had realized it was really far away, and that's what brought them to slowly walking along, dragging their feet as they went.  
  
"I could really use a nice LONG shower right now," Squid grumbled.  
  
Chase bit her lower lip; she couldn't help imagining Squid in a shower.  
  
"Well I could use A LOT of things right now!" Magnetic said, then she started counting off on her fingers. "A heavenly shower, nice clean toilets, a nice warm bed, a change of clean clothes, a smoothie-"  
  
"Don't talk about food," Armpit warned her. "I'm starving!"  
  
The group was running low on supplies; meaning food and water. They only had two canteens of water left and one can of beans.  
  
"Maybe they have food at the bus station?" Fidget said hopefully.  
  
"Yeah right," Squid grumbled again; he really wasn't in a good mood and all he seemed to be able to do was grumble-and think about tasty Chase.  
  
"I bet they have like a vending machine at the bus station," Lei said. "I mean, they have to!" Lei's beautiful long hair was now completely ratted and filthy and her not-so-bright pink hibiscus was askew-it seemed to REALLY bother her.  
  
"We're almost there," Twitch gasped. Out of the entire group he had been the one who always talked the most and spent a lot of his energy, wearing himself out. But he couldn't help it. If he tried standing completely still for five minutes the nervous energy would build up inside him until finally he would burst out talking and twitching again. But everything was fine as Fidget seemed to think all his twitching was cute.  
  
Zippy poked Chase's arm to get her attention. "You wanna race to the station?" she asked, grinning.  
  
Chase stared at Zippy with wide, disbelieving eyes. "You know Zip," she said, shaking her head. "Sometimes I just don't understand you."  
  
Zippy just grinned more broadly. "Come on! It would be fun!"  
  
"Would not," Chase replied. "I'm too tired and hot and I don't like running long distances!"  
  
"What?" Zippy cried. "Then why the heck is your name Chase? I thought you loved running!"  
  
"I only run when I have to," Chase replied. "Anyway I thought you guys call me Chase 'cause I'm always leading people on chases?"  
  
"I don't see you leading me on a chase right now!" Zippy said. "Oh I get it!" she said slyly, grinning again. "You're afraid you'll lose!"  
  
"No, I know I'll lose!" Chase replied. "I'm big and tired and you're small and hyper-what are the odds?"  
  
"Race me!" Zippy cried.  
  
"No Zip!"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"NO!"  
  
"Yes-you big wuss!"  
  
Chase shot a glare at Zippy. "ON YOUR MARKS-GET SET-GO!" she said very quickly before taking off at a sprint, Zippy taking off behind her.  
  
"They're crazy," Static said shaking her head as all the rest of D tent just slowly watched Zippy and Chase get smaller in the distance.  
  
It did Chase a whole world of good to be running again; she hadn't ran like this for months and months-not since the day before she'd arrived at Camp Lakeway. The wind rushing through her hair, the beat of her heart in time with her feet pushing off the ground as she raced along. She was almost upset when she realized the race was won, and she had reached the bus station. Panting hard she looked back for Zippy, who was just running up, gasping for breath.  
  
"That was awesome!" Zippy cried, grinning through her heavy exhaling.  
  
"Come on," Chase said, clutching a stitch in her side. "Lets go inside and wait for the others.  
  
Chase and Zippy took one step into the bus station and immediately stopped. The small, pine green-painted waiting area was air-conditioned.  
  
"Ooh Heaven is a place on Earth!" Chase cried, sinking into one of the hard benches, almost identical to the one they had all broken earlier.  
  
The bus station was small, only occupied with a few other people who stared at Chase and Zippy as they spread out on the benches, sighing with relief and occasionally laughing with happiness. At the back of the room was a side exit door and a small dais where a young man stood behind a ticket stand. At the front of the waiting area there was no wall, so the green cement floor gradually increased into normal gray pavement where the buses would come and go. Three large buses were parked neatly in their rows as their drivers took their breaks.  
  
Chase wrapped her arm around Zippy's shoulders, "We're almost home!" she said, followed by a crazed sort of laugh that attracted the attention of more than one other person in the waiting room.  
  
"You guys are whack!" ZigZag said as the rest of D tent made their way into the waiting area.  
  
Suddenly they all stopped and stared up and onward as if they could see the air that surrounded them.  
  
"Wow!" Zero cried. "Air-conditioning!" He raced towards Zippy and to her surprise he gave her a big kiss.  
  
"This is awesome!" Xray nearly shouted.  
  
The people in the waiting room stared, wide-eyed at the members of D tent. It had been weird enough for them to witness two filthy, tread-worn girls stumble their way into the room but now there was a whole group of dirty, smelly, tired looking teenagers that had entered the room and started screaming with joy at the feel of the cool air.  
  
"This is SO great!" Magnetic cried, sitting down on one of the benches opposite a meek looking man with a large suite case whose mustache hid his entire mouth.  
  
"Yeah, this is my new favorite paradise," Lei said. Static tried to figure out how many times Lei had changed her favorite paradise since they had left Camp Green Lake.  
  
"What are the prices?" Armpit asked.  
  
"Huh?" Chase asked, raising her eyebrow.  
  
"The prices for the buses," Armpit explained. "Did you guys check them out yet?"  
  
Zippy shook her head. "You should go ask the red head at the counter with the bad acne."  
  
"SHH! Zippy! He might hear you!" Chase giggled.  
  
Zippy grinned sheepishly.  
  
"You go ask him!" Armpit said, he was comfortably sitting on one of the benches, enjoying the air-conditioning.  
  
"I'm not gonna ask him!" Zippy snapped. "You ask him Chase!"  
  
"Noooo," Chase groaned tiredly.  
  
"Well somebody has to ask him," Lei said, looking around at everyone.  
  
"I'm not!" Magnetic said.  
  
"What, you afraid his zits are contagious!" Magnet laughed; sure he thought Magnetic was a total babe now, but he was still a rowdy Hispanic teenager at heart.  
  
Magnetic shot him a dirty glare but couldn't help smiling a little.  
  
"One of you guys has to ask him, I'm not going to," Fidget said with a yawn, she was laying across one of the benches, her head resting against Twitch's arm.  
  
"I'll ask him," Squid groaned, jumping to his feet and making his way towards the ticket booth. "Ooh! I'll ask him too!" Chase said quickly, jumping to her feet and hurrying after Squid. Zippy and Zero smiled at each other, everyone else furrowed their brow in utter confusion.  
  
"Hey man," Squid said as he approached the counter. "How much is a ticket to-to..." He stopped. He had no idea where they were trying to get-let alone where they were now. "Wait," he said, and he turned around to Chase. "Where are we going?" he asked.  
  
Chase shrugged. "How should I know?"  
  
"Well I don't know either!" Squid said.  
  
"Hey guys," Chase called over to the others across the room. "Where are we going?"  
  
But all the other members of D tent just shrugged their shoulders and mumbled "Idno".  
  
Chase thought for a moment then walked up to the ticket booth. "Excuse me," she said. "Do you have a map I could see, please?"  
  
The boy behind the counter just stared at Chase with a kind of dreamy look across his face. With the location of his job he probably didn't get to see that many pretty teenage girls.  
  
But it was making Squid a little jealous so he rapped on the counter top with his fist. "Hello? She asked for a map! Do you have one or not?"  
  
The boy jumped and stared at Squid in a rather frightened way. "Yes Sir," he said, pulling a map off a shelf behind him. "I have a map." Then he turned back to Chase and said in a softer tone, "Here you go, ma'am."  
  
Chase took the map and smiled. "Thank you," she said before turning away and walking back over to the others.  
  
As Squid turned to leave he glared at the boy in a menacing sort of way. The boy seemed to shrink back with fear as he smiled his meek "business man" smile.  
  
"So, where are we going first?" Chase asked.  
  
The others looked at the map then just shrugged their shoulders again.  
  
"It all depends on who wants to go home first," Chase said quietly. She and all the others had been dreading this moment since they had all reached the road.  
  
Zippy looked over at Zero whose face was glum. Again the question of where he was going to live when they all got home popped into her mind. What were they going to do? Just drop him off at Laney Park and drive away?  
  
"Lets not think about where we're going first," Lei said. "Lets just worry about where we are for now."  
  
"You are here," Fidget said, pointing at a little star on the map conveniently labeled, 'You are here.'  
  
"Wow, we're really far away from any cities," X-Ray said as he studied the map.  
  
"I live there," Twitch said, pointing out Houston on the map.  
  
"Oh," Fidget said slowly. "I live in Wichita Falls." She pointed to it on the map and glumly traced it's distance from Houston.  
  
"I live in Austin," Armpit said.  
  
"I live in San Antonio," Magnet contributed.  
  
"I live in Sundown!" Magnetic said proudly, pointing to sundown on the map. "I live in this REALLY nice neighborhood, in this really nice house-"  
  
"You live close to X-Ray," Armpit said, smiling.  
  
Magnetic wrinkled her nose.  
  
"I live in Odessa," Chase and Zippy said in unison. Then they turned and stared at each other.  
  
"YOU DO!?" Chase asked excitedly.  
  
"YEAH!" Zippy cried. "Oh my god! This is awesome! I was worried we lived REALLY far away from each other! But! BUT!" Zippy hugged Chase who looked very surprised.  
  
"Well that's real great for you guys," Squid said. "But I live on the other side of Texas."  
  
Chase stopped squealing with delight. "Where do you live?" she asked quietly.  
  
"In Henderson," Squid replied, pointing to a small dot on the map labeled HENDERSON.  
  
"I live in Yoakum," Zigzag said. Then he turned to Static who was sitting beside him, "Where do you live?"  
  
"Zapata," Static replied.  
  
"Ha-your name is Static-you live in ZAPata-and you like electricity!" Twitch said with a laugh.  
  
"Where do you live, Lei?" Armpit asked.  
  
"In Lockhart," Lei replied. "And Hawaii."  
  
"We live KINDA close," Armpit shrugging. "Or at least that's how it seems on the map."  
  
"Where do YOU live Rogue?" X-Ray asked.  
  
Rogue who was sitting far away from the group, her arms folded in her lap and her smudged face in a scowl, looked up.  
  
"Huh? Where do you live?" Xray repeated.  
  
"Yeah Rogue," Chase said, "come on over here and tell us what city you live in."  
  
Rogue just hesitantly sat there for a moment, still looking at them, then she stood up, walked over to them, and sat down next to Chase.  
  
"I live here," she said quietly, pointing to the map. "In Dallas."  
  
"Cool," Zippy said smiling. "I like Dallas, it's a BIG city!"  
  
"Yeah well, livin' in a BIG city ain't always a good thing," Rogue said, raising her eyebrows as if preparing to tell an old story. "I lived in this dodgy part of Dallas-where ya' hafta watch out for yourself, 'aight? Well, it wasn't a very safe place to live," Rogue lowered her eyes to the floor. "And I'm not too excited about goin' back-sure I'll love seein' my ma' and my little brother, Michael-but I sure as hell won't be trippin' ova' people to meet up with my ex again. Damn, he's gonna throw me in my coffin and bury me alive." Rogue stopped and took a deep breath, dreading the events to come in her future.  
  
"It's okay-you'll manage," Chase said, putting her arm around Rogue; finally Rogue was being friendly and open again!  
  
"Yeah, and you can always call the cops if your ex-boyfriend tries to hurt you again!" Zippy stated logically.  
  
"You guys don't understand!" Rogue said, jumping to her feet. "If I rag on him he'll kill me!"  
  
"Let's not think about that now," Lei said, looking around at everyone. "Lets just figure out how much it will cost for all of us to get home-I really need a shower-not to mention a cozy bed, and a decent meal."  
  
"Yeah," Chase agreed. She got to her feet and walked back up to the ticket counter. "Excuse me," she said, immediately catching the attention of the red head. "How much would it cost to get to these places?" Chase pointed from Austin to Odessa, then to Zapata, and so on.  
  
The occasionally glanced down at her finger moving across the map, but mainly stared at her face-and chest.  
  
"So, how much do you think it would cost-and what kinda routes do you have?" Chase asked.  
  
The boy was hesitant for a moment, trying to figure out what the heck she was talking about. Then he replied, "Well we have a bus that goes to Dallas then Lubbock then Sundown. We also have a bus that goes to Austin the Lockhart then San Antonio. We have one bus that goes to Wichita Falls and back. Our business has another bus that goes to Henderson then Houston. We have a bus that goes to Zapata and Yoakum, and we have a bus that goes to Odessa and back." He paused and glanced up at Chase. "The nearest one would be the one to Dallas, and that costs two-hundred bucks."  
  
Chase's heart fell; she doubted anyone in the group had enough money. "Thank you," she said before turning and hurrying back over to the group.  
  
"Well?" Zigzag asked her.  
  
"The closest route is the one to Dallas, Lubbock, and Sundown," Chase replied. "But it costs like two-hundred bucks."  
  
"What!?" Zippy cried.  
  
"I know," Chase said disappointedly. She sat back down on the bench and rested her head in her hands.  
  
"Wait a second," Squid said, digging in his pocket.  
  
Chase sat up hopefully.  
  
Squid pulled out a wade of smudged and torn cash. He quickly counted through it and looked up in a grave state. "I've only got sixty-two," he said.  
  
"Only?" Fidget asked.  
  
"I only have forty-three cents," Fidget said, holding the coins up.  
  
"I've gotta hundred and fifty-six," Rogue said quietly.  
  
Everyone stared at her.  
  
"Really?" Armpit asked in surprise.  
  
"Your money and Squid's put together is two hundred and eighteen dollars," Zero said quickly.  
  
"We have enough for one ride," Chase said, raising her eyebrows.  
  
"Yeah, but I bet we can make more on the way," Xray said optimistically.  
  
"Yeah! Magnetic can lift her shirt up for money!" Magnet suggested.  
  
Magnetic flushed.  
  
"Well, should we buy the ticket?" Static asked.  
  
"Yeah, we will buy the ticket," Chase said standing up, and with the money in hand moving back towards the ticket counter. 


	37. All Excitment and No Peace

Everyone boarded the bus quietly, handing their bus ticket to the bus driver as they walked past. Zippy and Zero sat down at the very back of the bus, Fidget and Twitch sat down on the opposite side of the aisle at the back of the bus. Squid and Zigzag sat in the same seat, as did Xray and Armpit. Static, Lei, and Rogue sat three to a seat, and Magnetic and Magnet sat in the same seat-to no ones surprise.  
  
Chase sat down by herself, but she didn't mind, she wanted to be alone with her thoughts for a while. Would she ever get to see Fidget or Rogue or Static again? Would she ever get to laugh along with Twitch or X-Ray or Armpit again? Would she ever be able to confide in Zero again? And even though she had never dreamed of thinking it before Chase wondered if she'd ever hear Magnetic's bossy voice again. And what of Zigzag, Magnet, Lei, or even Squid? Had she completely lost her chance with him now? Chase closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, she was too tired to be troubled by all her musing.  
  
The bus rumbled on in silence, despite Twitch's occasional "Whoop!" Everyone was quiet; just thinking. But Zippy hated silence and soon she jumped to her feet.  
  
"Come on guys!" she cried, staring around at everyone. "This bus ride could be the last time we all see each other and you're all just gonna sit there in silence!? I mean come on! Like Squid said we gotta have a LITTLE fun before we part!"  
  
The bus driver looked back at Zippy in his rear-view mirror and just rolled his eyes.  
  
"You're right Zippy," said Fidget as she slyly moved towards the bathroom at the back of the bus. "Gotta live life to it's fullest." Then before anyone could do anything Fidget ran into the bathroom grabbed a plastic cup that had been placed by the sink, filled it with water and hurled it's contents at Zippy.  
  
Not only was Zippy soaking wet but so was the bus seat and Zero's right arm and leg.  
  
Fidget started cracking up, and the others bit their lip, trying to hold back their laughter.  
  
But Zero jumped to his feet, filled another cup with water and flung it at Fidget. Fidget dodged the cup and instead all the water hit Twitch in the face.  
  
"Oops?" Zero said, with a big grin on his face.  
  
And so the water war began. Twitch had tried to get Zero back but instead he hit Static, Rogue, and Lei. Lei, thinking that it was Zero who had gotten her hair all wet went after him with a cup of water, and Lei and Rogue went after Twitch. Somehow someone had gotten Squid all soaking wet. Zigzag had started cracking up and pointing at Squid-that is until he found himself all drenched in water. Magnetic hadn't felt like getting wet and she had used Magnet as a barrier. But Magnet preferred seeing Magnetic with a see-through shirt so he, himself, had poured water all over her. Magnetic had screamed, but then gradually started enjoying the fight.  
  
But there's always someone against happiness and soon the bus driver was yelling back to them to stop the water fight or he'd kick them off his bus.  
  
"Talk about service," Lei had said, sitting down next to Fidget who had started giggling hysterically.  
  
The seating arrangement had been all jostled about and changed and now Zippy sat next to Chase, Zero still sat at the back of the bus but was now accompanied by Twitch. Fidget and Lei sat across the aisle. Squid and Rogue sat opposite Zigzag and Static, and the others were just standing about- some even sitting on the floor, in the aisle.  
  
Squid leaned out into the aisle so he could talk to Zigzag. Suddenly Zigzag remembered something and asked yet again, "Does anyone have a lighter?"  
  
"Urg!" Magnetic cried. "How many times do you have to ask that before you realize that none of us has a ligh-"  
  
"I have a lighter," Rogue said, pulling it out of her backpack and tossing it over to Zigzag.  
  
"Thanks," Zigzag said. He flipped the lighter open then set off the flame. Moving it slowly back and forth before his face he stared at the fire as it danced it's way from the lighter.  
  
"You're such a pyromaniac," Magnetic said.  
  
Zigzag didn't reply, he was too busy watching the flame. He brought it close to the back of the seat before him; the seat Magnetic and Xray were sitting in.  
  
"Don't burn the seat!" Magnetic cried, pushing Zigzag's arm away. But Magnetic hadn't thought of her long blonde hair, draped over her shoulders, and as she pushed Zigzag away some of her hair fell just above the flame- but it was close enough to catch fire.  
  
"I'M ON FIRE!!!" Magnetic had shrieked as the tips of her hair burned.  
  
Xray grabbed her and race her down to the bathroom where he threw a cup of water over her head. The flame was small enough that it went out in a wisp of smoke.  
  
Magnetic walked back down the aisle to her seat looking thoroughly pissed off, her mascara running down her cheeks, water dripping from her singed hair.  
  
"HEY! No playing with fire on my bus!" the bus driver shouted back.  
  
Zigzag closed the lighter for a few seconds but then shrunk back into his seat and opened it again.  
  
Fidget stood up and walked up to the bus driver. She asked him something the others couldn't hear, then returned with a pen in hand. She grabbed a paper towel from the bathroom, folded it, and walked around from person to person, asking them something.  
  
When she came around to Chase and Zippy she asked, "What's your email addresses?"  
  
Chase furrowed her brow; what was her email address again?  
  
"Mine's GiantPixieStickGirl@aol.com!" Zippy said, smiling as her mind formulated an image the others did not want to hear about. "But I think I'm gonna change it to something like iDugMyFinalHole-or Zippy&Zero-you know, something like that."  
  
"Well email me at ConstantFidgeter@aol.com if you do change it," Fidget said as she wrote Zippy's email address down on the paper towel. Then she turned to Chase.  
  
"I can't think of it right now," Chase said. "I'll tell ya' later when I remember it."  
  
"Hey!" Zippy said excitedly. "Did you get Squid's email address yet?"  
  
"No," Fidget replied. "That was my next stop though."  
  
"Well when you get it can you give it to Chase here?" Zippy asked. Then she added quietly, "She loves him."  
  
"Do not!" Chase said, shoving Zippy. "I don't need Squid's email, Fidget."  
  
Fidget shrugged her shoulders then moved back to Squid's seat.  
  
"I wonder if I'll ever see him again?" Chase said to herself.  
  
"Who?" Zippy asked. "Squid? You are too in love!"  
  
"Shut up!" Chase said. But then she lowered her voices and said, "I'm gonna miss him."  
  
"Well then get his email address Chase!" Zippy cried. "I mean at least you'll still be in touch with him! I'll never see Zero again and he doesn't have an email address-let alone a computer!" Zippy stopped and took a deep breath.  
  
Chase patted Zippy softly on the arm. No words could comfort her more.  
  
"So," Zippy said, changing the subject. "How're we gonna help out Rogue?"  
  
"What'chya gonna do when you get home?" Zigzag asked Static, who was resting her head against his shoulder.  
  
"Hug my little brother and my mom, take a shower, go to sleep," Static replied, yawning. "Then I'll call you."  
  
"Man, it sucks how we all live so far away from each other," Zigzag said.  
  
"Yeah, I know," Squid said, leaning way back into the bus seat. "We'll probably never see any of these girls again."  
  
"Chase?" Zigzag asked.  
  
Squid nodded. "Yeah, Chase," he said. "It just sucks that I never really got anywhere with her."  
  
"What, like sex?" Zigzag asked, a sly smile spreading across his face.  
  
"Yeah, sure man, whatever," Squid said, shaking his head.  
  
"Well you should have made a move!" Zigzag said.  
  
"Man, she doesn't like me," Squid said. "Besides, I promised to leave her alone."  
  
"So break the promise!" Zigzag replied. "Try making another move! Maybe she'll like you now; you just gotta try."  
  
Squid shrugged his shoulders in an unlikely way, but he continued thinking about what Zigzag had said long after their conversation was over.  
  
After arguing with himself about what to do for quite some time Squid stood up and started making his way to where Chase sat. He was almost to her seat when suddenly he was flung forth to his knees as the bus took a huge jolt and skidded across the road. Everyone was rammed forth into the back of the seat before them as the bus abruptly stopped.  
  
"What happened?" Magnetic yelled up to the bus driver.  
  
"I don't know," the old fart snapped. "I think we may have blew a tire."  
  
"Well this is just GREAT!" Magnetic shouted.  
  
"Quit your complainin'!" the bus driver shouted back at her as he got up and opened the bus door. "We've gotta spare tire in the back."  
  
"Good!" Lei cried in relief.  
  
"You may want to come out and stretch your legs while I change the tire," the bus driver called to them as he stepped off the bus. "This is gonna take a while."  
  
So the members of D tent loudly filed off the bus and stood around on the deserted road. Squid and Xray walked back to find the blown tire while the others stood around stretching their arms and legs.  
  
"Hey, I don't see any blown tire-" Squid said to the bus driver.  
  
But the bus driver hadn't heard him as he had hurried back onto the bus and restarted the engine. "What the hell?" Zigzag cried, turning at the sound of the engine.  
  
The bus started to roll off leaving them all behind. Rogue pulled out her big knife and popped the extra tire that clung to the back of the bus just before the bus had left them.  
  
"HEY COME BACK!!!!!" Magnetic screamed.  
  
"COME BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Chase shouted.  
  
As the bus got further and further away Squid picked up a rock and hurled it at the bus. The rock broke through one of the back windows but it didn't do them any good. The bus was gone, and they were left standing there in the middle of nowhere--again. 


	38. The Leaving of Chase

"I can't believe this!" Chase screamed. She fell to the ground in a heap, crying into her arms. This was too much.  
  
"He got our two hundred bucks!" Xray yelled, kicking dirt in the direction the bus had left.  
  
"I don't think so," Zero said, a grin spreading across his face. He held up a huge wade of cash in his left hand.  
  
"Wha-how'd you-" Chase began breathlessly.  
  
"I stole it outta this box full of money at the front of the bus," Zero said.  
  
"But when did you steal it?" Static asked.  
  
"When we were getting off the bus," Zero replied. "I stole it 'cause he was being a jerk."  
  
"I LOVE you!" Zippy cried, kissing him on the cheek.  
  
Zero blushed, then said, "I think we should split the money up equally; that way we'll all have some money just in case."  
  
"How much is there?" Lei asked.  
  
"I dunno yet," Zero said, beginning to count the wade of money in his hand.  
  
"But even so how are we gonna get home now?" Xray asked. "The next bus station is hundreds of miles away!"  
  
"Life sucks!" Chase growled, wiping away her tears and climbing back to her feet. Before anyone could stop her she started storming forth, not looking back.  
  
"Guess we should follow her," Zippy said, watching Chase march down the side of the road.  
  
They all started walking while Zero counted.  
  
"Wow," Zero said after a minute or two.  
  
"What!? What? What is it!?" Magnetic cried, bouncing up and down with excitement.  
  
"So far there's seven hundred," Zero said as he continued counting. "So far we each get fifty bucks."  
  
Zippy smiled.  
  
"Eight hundred....nine hundred...ONE THOUSAND!" Zero cried.  
  
"Wow, the bus driver must have been pretty stupid to leave all this money in that little box!" Squid cried.  
  
"One thousand and one hundred twenty bucks," Zero concluded. "We each get eighty bucks."  
  
"Can't wait 'till we get to a little town or some place with an AM PM," Armpit said.  
  
"I know what you mean," Zero said, passing eighty dollars to each person.  
  
"Thank you," Fidget said when Zero handed her the cash. "What about Chase?"  
  
"OOH! I'll give it to her!" Squid cried, a little too quickly.  
  
"I knew you would," Zero said, handing Squid his money and Chase's.  
  
Squid smiled sheepishly just before hurrying ahead towards Chase.  
  
"Isn't it SO obvious he and Chase love each other?" Magnetic said in a know- it-all tone.  
  
Zippy raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Chase!" Squid called as he ran up to her. "Chase! Wait up!"  
  
Chase went on, ignoring him.  
  
"Chase, I got your money," Squid said when he caught up to her. He held out the eighty bucks for her to take.  
  
But Chase didn't even look at the money as she continued onward in a rush of anger.  
  
Squid held the money closer to her. "Eighty bucks, all yours, you want it or not?"  
  
Chase glared at him.  
  
Squid shrugged and pocketed the money; he would try giving it to her again later. "Would you slow down a little?" he asked her.  
  
She didn't reply.  
  
"Look, you're not the only one who's pissed about what happened," he tried again. "We're all mad! We all hate being out here, practically starving! But you aren't helping the situation by being so rude all of the time! Quit being such a selfish bitch!"  
  
Chase kicked Squid in the shin. It hurt pretty bad, but Squid wouldn't show his pain.  
  
"Chase COME ON!" he yelled at her; he was getting really annoyed now. He still loved her a lot, but she was being such a drama queen.  
  
That's when the blue truck came roaring up the road. Magnetic had tried flagging it down, but it had just rolled past her and the others.  
  
Chase stepped up to the road and stuck her thumb out.  
  
"Chase! Come on!" Squid yelled again, hurrying towards her.  
  
The blue pick up truck slowed down, then came to a complete stop, and Chase climbed in.  
  
"Chase! Wait!" Zippy yelled, seeing what was happening from afar.  
  
"What the hell is she doing!?" Magnetic cried. "And how come that guy didn't stop for me?! I'M WAY PRETTIER THAN SHE IS!"  
  
The blue truck rolled off into the haze, leaving the rest of D tent behind, gaping as they watched it go. 


	39. Thank God For Insane People

**Chapter Thirty-Eight **

**Thank God For Insane People**

Chase hadn't wanted to get in the truck and leave everyone behind. She'd never desired to be so savage to Squid and the others, she'd just been so upset—so irritated that she hadn't stopped to think about her actions. She hadn't paused to muse over exactly where her legs were carrying her and her mind had become oblivious to the sensible reactions that she was avoiding. It wasn't until she was sitting precariously in the passenger's seat of a musky old pickup truck that she truly understood what events had taken place and just how incredibly dimwitted she had behaved.

The man sitting beside Chase in the driver's seat seemed polite enough. He appeared to be aged well into his late forties, lines of senescence were steadily beginning to creep over his skin and hair was graying at the roots. Clad in a checkered shirt and cap he'd addressed Chase in a friendly manner when she'd approached him, speaking to her gently, almost as a father speaks to his daughter, and graciously accepting her inquiry about getting a ride. Chase had been more then thankful for his willingness and had innerly rejoiced when he'd smothered his cigarette for her sake: he seemed to be a generous guy which imposed that she would be perfectly fine in his company. What Chase hadn't noticed as she'd scrambled into his truck, however, was the peculiar fervency he had about the wedding ring he was wearing as he quickly slipped it off his finger and pocketed it, smiling at Chase all the while.

"So," the seemingly kind man asked after Chase had settled herself beside him and he'd begun to drive again. "Where in the world are you plannin' on goin'?"

"Odessa," Chase replied shortly, ignoring proper etiquette and steering clear of openly speaking with the stranger. She cringed in disgust at the galling country music leaking from the radio speaker beside her knee.

"That's on the way to Pecos, ain't it," the man asked, smiling merrily in Chase's direction.

"Yeah..." Chase uttered slowly. "I guess so." As the man continued to impose cheery glances in her figure's direction she began to feel increasingly uncomfortable, recoiling away from him as much as the car door beside her would allow. She suddenly had a strong desire to be back with her fellow D-tent members, back where it was an obvious fact that she was safe and protected.

"So," the man began, abandoning his peachy veneer and watching Chase lustfully from the corner of his eye. "You been hitchhikin' for a long time?"

"Yeah," Chase replied cautiously, eyeing the stranger fervently as he smiled at her once again. "A really long time…"

"How'd you all get out there?" the man asked, fingering his cold cigarette delicately as he watched the road with much less vigor then when he watched Chase.

"We—we were just," Chase started, avidly raking her brain for a plausible excuse and only coming up with fictional tales. "We were all—uh..."

"What?" the man slurred, leaning in Chase's direction, his eyes leaving the road to stare her down. "Do I make you uncomfortable?"

Chase abruptly jumped back in shock as the man ran his hand over her thigh. She pressed herself flat against the car door to her right, breathing hard, her eyes wide in horror.

The man howled with a twisted sort of laughter that was harsh on the ears and only made Chase's heart thud more violently in her chest. "Jumpy are we?" he crowed, smiling cruelly as he pulled himself back up behind the steering wheel and watched the road again. "Don't worry, Sweet Heart," he continued. "You'll warm up to me real soon: I'm takin' you somewhere mighty nice..."

Chase felt as though she were going to be sick. Her heart pounded so hard in her ears that she couldn't think straight. All she could contemplate was the terrible event that was soon to come, soon to be brought down upon her by her own stupidity. Why had she ever been so incredibly moronic as to leave her friends and hop into the car of some male stranger. She sat there, petrified with anxiety, her skin shivering despite the morbid climate as she miserably dreaded what was to take place once the man had driven her to his "special refuge".

"Come on Sweet Heart," the man cooed, moving towards Chase again, his musky face mere inches from her own. "Don't be afraid. You'll be safe with me. Now give me a kiss..."

The man grabbed Chase by the side, pinning her in place and drawing her slowly to him despite her thrashing and confused attempts to break free of his grasp.

"Come on," he continued to coo, stroking her hair and trying to force her to settle down. When she failed to comply, however, he grabbed her viciously by the back of the head and held her still as he moved in for his desired kiss. Chase struggled helplessly, her ferocious pulse stabbing her ribcage like a knife as she fought to no prevail. Within seconds the man's face was next to her own and she panicked with no indication of what to do: She had a feeling that this grown man would be much more difficult to bite off then the obnoxious boy at Camp Green Lake had been and she had no other bright strategies.

"HELLO!"

The man jumped back from Chase in shock, nearly swerving off the side of the road in his attempts to regain control over the steering wheel. Chase was even surprised out of her wits as she jumped back, free from the man's grasp, and hit her head with a dizzying crack against the window beside her. Regaining her vision she looked back in befuddlement trying desperately to conceive who this new impostor could be. Chase didn't know whether to gasp in confusion or scream in delight when she turned and found Squid sitting up straight and alert in the back seat and watching her avidly. She was about to question him in bafflement but he shook his head in warning before climbing over the seat with a surprising agility. He hopped down into the miniscule seat between Chase and the derisive driver, stared at Chase in obvious concern and then put a single finger to his lips to silence her, winking before he turned to address the owner of the truck.

"What's up?" he asked in a casual voice, sitting back leisurely and grinning idiotically.

"Who the hell are you?" the strange man demanded, abandoning his startled confusion and growing furious at Squid's presence. "And how the hell did you get in my truck?"

"Through the back window," Squid stated obviously, still smiling like a loon.

Chase chanced a glance back at the rear window, which was opened wide. She realized, suddenly, that Squid must have jumped into the bed of the truck as she'd been obliviously climbing into the passenger's seat and then had hid out there, eavesdropping on the awkward conversation taking place in the front of the truck. When things had begun getting rough between Chase and the unknown man, Squid must have unlatched the back window and climbed through without anyone noticing. He'd then waited secretly in the back seat until the precise moment that the strange man had been millimeters away from making contact with Chase before speaking into action and startling the current commotion to an end. She couldn't believe he'd been able to proceed with such a task without anyone espying his actions nor could she really perceive why he would go through such risks just for her.

"Anyway," Squid began, folding his arms and eyeing the man peculiarly. "I think the _real_ question you should be asking here is who the hell are you? Goin' around and just pickin' up random people off the side of the road? What the hell is wrong with you man? Don't you ever once stop to think? I mean come on, what if accidentally picked up an insane person, eh? What would you do if they had a gun in their coat pocket—or an ax hidden down in their pants, huh? What would you do if they just chopped your head clean off your shoulders? It could happen you know: You could just assume they've got some enormous action down in their pants and then they whip out a knife and cut you up into little pieces. Just think, you'd never be able to see your beautiful, sexy, gorgeous wife again all because you had the idiocy to pick up a stranger off the side of the road. Didn't your mother teach you anything, man?" Squid stared at the cowering man with wide eyes as he exhibited the most absurd expression she'd ever seen on him. She supposed it was the vicious approach he usually took when doing X-ray's dirty work—with just a hint of insanity. "Besides," Squid began again, suddenly lowering his voice to a calm and simple tone again as he laid back against the seat once more, propping his feet up on the dashboard. "You really wouldn't want to have sex with this girl anyway," he nodded towards Chase, trying to hold back a grin as Chase gaped at him in disbelief. "Believe me, my friend, she's got AIDS... _Oh_ yeah, I remember when I was like you: Old, butt ugly and naïve. I thought she was beautiful too once... That is before I had physical relations with her and had to start visiting the doctor regularly. Man, it sucks: Do you know how gynecologists check your temperature?" Chase had to clamp a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from snorting with laughter. Squid smiled at her before continuing. "And not only that, but I don't think you'd wanna get a disease and take it home to your beautiful, sexy, gorgeous wife and end up killin' her? I mean, she is a _very_ beautiful, sexy, _gorgeous_ woman. Who else would take care of your dry cleaning? Oh, and by the way, your wife told me to tell you to buy some eggs on your way home. I would, you know, but I'm all worn out from the time we had last night. I'm tellin' ya', man, give that woman some alcohol and she'll be all over ya'!"

"WHO THE FUCKING HELL ARE YOU!!!?" the man shouted, his face red with strenuous anger.

"An insane person," Squid replied simply, shrugging his shoulders. "Is that not apparent?"

Squid protectively grabbed Chase around the waste as they both tumbled from the car seat and landed, sprawled out, over the ground, getting scrapped and bruised in the process, as the aggravated man literally kicked them out of his truck before pressing on the gas and speeding away.

"See the kinds of things I do for you?" Squid grumbled, slowly helping to a sitting position as she choked and coughed against the impact of the ground.

"Yeah," she croaked, clutching her scrapped knee in pain. "Thank you."

"Any time," Squid replied, not noticing that his arm was still around her waste as he examined her cuts. "You okay?" he asked, watching her with absolute seriousness.

Chase nodded meekly.

"What'd he do to you," Squid asked, still using the same intimidatingly deep tone. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," Chase said, not even daring to look Squid in the eye for the sake of her embarrassment. "Not really... He just kind of scared me..."

"Well, I guess next time you'll remember not to hop into some stranger's car," Squid said, not even excusing his statement as the joke Chase had desperately wished he would have told.

She tried to look away as childish tears of shame began to wield up in her eyes. "I'm sorry..." she said, almost inaudibly.

Squid, suddenly noticing his mistake, tried to propose his forgiveness immediately. "It's okay," he stated hurriedly. "I just—just _really_ don't want you to get hurt."

He obliviously stroked Chase's hair back away from her face as she sat there, rubbing the tears away from her eyes. "You're beautiful," he wanted to say. But when the words formed in his mouth he suddenly remembered just where he was, who he was sitting beside and what had just happened. His words were abolished like a snowman in the sun.

"Well," Chase sighed, shakily climbing to her feet and leaving Squid's embracing arm to fall quickly back to his side. "We should probably go find the others now."

"Yeah," Squid replied, pulling himself to his feet as well and brushing dust off his grimy do-rag. "Probably..." He walked along side Chase as they made their way steadily down the empty, dust-washed road.

"So," Chase said after a few moments of silence. "The gynecologist, eh?"

Squid smiled wildly in response.


	40. Disbelief

"I cannot believe they just left us like that!" Magnetic cried. The group had reached the spot where Chase and Squid had stood but a few minutes ago, all of them with furrowed brows and stern expressions.  
  
Zippy didn't say anything, she seemed speechless with shock and anger. How could Chase do something like that? Wasn't Chase her best friend?  
  
"I'm sure they're just headed towards the nearest bus stop," Fidget said, though she didn't sound very sure of herself. "Maybe if we just catch a ride there we'll meet up with them again?"  
  
"Yeah," Lei agreed. "Chase was just really mad, I bet she's come to her senses by now."  
  
"Well I for one hope that truck she got into gets into a huge car crash and she dies and Squid meraculously survives," Magnetic snapped, crossing her arms.  
  
"Well that's a little harsh," Twitch said.  
  
Magnetic looked as if she would bite him so Twitch slowly backed away.  
  
Zippy walked to the edge of the road and held her thumb out, she didn't mention that she too thought Chase deserved to get in a car crash-not die- but get hurt just enough to really realize what a jerk she was.  
  
After a few minutes of just standing there in silence a big cargo truck pulled over and Zippy was the first to climb in.  
  
Mr. Pendanski was jolted out of his sleep when the car abruptly came to a stop.  
  
"Wha-what is it?" Mr. Pendanski asked groggily.  
  
But Friction didn't answer as she jumped out of the car and ran out before it. Mr. Pendanski rubbed his eyes and climbed out of the truck after her. He walked over to where she stooped, staring at the ground.  
  
"They've been here!" Friction cried, staring at the eroded dirt where many had tread.  
  
Mr. Pendanski stared up at the huge mountain towering before them.  
  
"You think they went up there?" he asked.  
  
Friction shrugged her shoulders as she climbed to her feet. "I dunno," some of the footprints lead towards the mountain but others are leading away from it. There's too many tracks to tell. I have a feeling they aren't up there though, I mean they wouldn't have enough energy to climb a mountain after being out here for so long. I think we should go that way," she pointed towards the sun rising up over the horizon in the east.  
  
"Okay," Mr. Pendanski said, shrugging. "Whatever you want."  
  
"Lets go!" Friction cried, seeming much more eager than Mr. Pendanski, who slowly slumped back into the car.  
  
Friction started the engine and zoomed across the desert towards the rising sun, ever worrying about reaching their goal, and yet realizing it was too late.  
  
The phone rang and hesitantly the Warden picked it up.  
  
"Hello?" she said into the receiver.  
  
"Hello, this is Brian's mother," a woman replied. "May I speak to him please?"  
  
The Warden froze, then explained in the calmest voice she could muster, "I'm sorry, right now he's out on the lake. May I take a message?"  
  
"Oh I was just calling to make sure he was okay as he hasn't answered any of my letters for a long time," Twitch's mother replied.  
  
"Oh he's fine," the Warden said, aware of her voice becoming a little shaky. She cleared her throat and said, "He's havin' a great time here, he's made new friends and everything."  
  
"Well that's good," Twitch's mother said in a chipper voice. "Just tell him I miss him and I can't wait to see him."  
  
"Okay," the Warden replied. "I'll be sure and so that as soon as he gets back from the lake."  
  
"Thank you!" Twitch's mother said. "Well, goodbye."  
  
"Bye," the Warden quickly hung up. Then she began frantically looking through her files and stopped in shock; Chase was to be released in one week and if Friction didn't bring her back her parents were bound to come looking for her.  
  
"Why'd you save me from that guy when I was such a jerk to you?" Chase asked as she and Squid walked on.  
  
Squid shrugged. "You weren't a jerk."  
  
Chase raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Okay, I guess you were KIND OF a jerk, but you were just mad," Squid admitted. "I climbed into the truck 'cause it's dangerous for a girl to hitchhike on her own. I didn't know the guy was gonna be such a bastard though, but I saw him take his ring off as you were getting in and so I climbed through the back window. I couldn't just leave you there on your own with that pervert. It would have been stupid."  
  
"Are you saying I'm weak?" Chase asked.  
  
"No," Squid said, shaking his head. "You know what I mean," he nudged Chase playfully in the arm.  
  
Chase smiled. "Well, thanks again for saving me."  
  
"You make it sound like I'm some kind of super hero or something," Squid said, chuckling. Chase blushed, and shrugged her shoulders for an excuse as she couldn't think of anything witty to say. They walked on in awkward silence for a ways until Squid started frowning and looking over his shoulder a lot.  
  
"What is it?" Chase asked, sounding confused.  
  
"I thought this is where we left the others," Squid said.  
  
"Well we have been gone for a while," Chase said, sounding logical. "They've probably walked on a long ways."  
  
"Well then how are we supposed to catch up to them?" Squid asked.  
  
"Maybe they'll stop sometime," Chase said hopefully. "If only we walked faster-" Chase stopped as a bad feeling hit her. "They're gone," she said quietly.  
  
"What?" Squid asked. "What do you mean, 'they're gone'?"  
  
"Well we left them by getting a ride from that guy," Chase explained.  
  
"So they all left by getting a ride from someone else," Squid finished. "Now what?"  
  
"Well, I bet they went the way we went," Chase said, though she sounded doubtful. "I guess we should just turn around and head down the road again."  
  
"Again?" Squid groaned.  
  
"Hey, I don't wanna walk all that way any more than you do," Chase snapped, she was getting angry again. "Come on," she said in a softer tone. "We better get a move on."  
  
As Squid and Chase walked onward a huge cargo truck zoomed passed them with out stopping.  
  
"Hey, was that Squid and Chase?" Static asked, looking back in the side- view mirror but not seeing anyone.  
  
Zippy shrugged her shoulders and just kept staring forth in silence, she hadn't seen anyone. 


	41. Clinging To Nothing

Her breath was cold against his chest but Squid held tight. He pulled her closer, the sweet aroma of her soft blonde hair dizzying him and making him feel a drift in a sleepy daze. He wrapped his arms tighter around her smooth skin, careful not to squeeze her too tight. But she didn't seem to mind and leaned closer to him. Squid felt as if he was in Heaven; the butterfly kisses against his skin as she blinked, the taste of her lushes lips as they kissed, the beauty of her face as she stared up at him with large blue eyes. Squid would have loved it to never end.  
  
But nothing lasts forever and soon Squid found himself laying on the hard, dusty earth, blinking madly in the bright sunlight that now flooded the desert as the cursed sun rose up over the horizon. Squid sat up and brushed dirt from his smelly white shirt. He stared about him, forgetting where he was for a moment; damn, it had all been a dream. He looked over to Chase who still lay in sleep, her back facing him. He didn't really want to, nor was he willing to, but soon he found himself whispering her name, trying to wake her up.  
  
"Chase," he whispered softly, moving towards her. "Chase."  
  
He bent over her and put his lips to her ear; suprisingly her hair did smell sweet-even those she hadn't had a shower in weeks.  
  
"Chase," he whispered again, his filthy du-rag lightly brushing her cheek as he moved even closer to her. Now he was so close his lips just barely touched Chase's neck each time he spoke. He had no idea why he was SO close to her; he knew he shouldn't be as she didn't like him, but he couldn't hold back.  
  
"Chase.....it's time to wake up..........we have to get moving again." Squid kissed her neck, feeling like he was in Heaven again.  
  
Chase's eyelids slowly raised; she'd been having a dream where she'd been crying at the edge of the top of Big Thumb, Zippy and the others yelling at her. She'd been about to jump from the ledge when her dog, Shoobie, had run up out of nowhere and had started licking her neck. That's when Chase had waken up and that's when Chase discovered what had caused her to dream about her dog licking her neck. Chase jumped back in surprise; had Squid just been kissing her neck? She stared at Squid with wide eyes as he just sat there, looking completely bewildered and embarrassed.  
  
"I'm sorry," he tried to say, but Chase wasn't listening.  
  
"What were you doing?" she cried, a surge of feelings rushing through her mind. She felt a whirl of happiness erupt beneath her skin; Squid had been kissing her! But at the same time she felt very confused and nervous; Squid was a criminal boy, there was no reason for him not to be a rapest. But Chase didn't linger on this thought long as she knew Squid-or at least thought she did-and the way he sat there looking extremely sorry and confused himself convinced her that he never meant to hurt or scare her.  
  
"I was-I was," Squid began, not seeming able to find the right words. "I was just-I dunno-I dunno what i was doing. I couldn't stop myself, I-"  
  
Chase set her hand on his as if to say she understood.  
  
"Sorry," Squid said again, his cheeks turning red.  
  
Chase nodded, then, blowing the subject away like a speck of dust, she said, "Well, we have a long way to go now, better get going."  
  
"Yeah," Squid said quickly. He got to his feet and reajusted his du-rag, he then picked up his cap, which had fallen from Chase's head during the night, and handed it to her.  
  
"Thanks," she said, slowly getting to her feet and taking the cap from Squid.  
  
They made their way awkwardly down the side of the forlorn road, silent most of the time, not willing to look at the other as everything seemed so embarrassing. There were a few times when Squid's hand accidentally brushed against Chase's but that was pretty much the only contact they made.  
  
"I wonder where Xray and the gang are now?" Squid said after a while, finally breaking the silence.  
  
Chase shrugged. "Probably off sittin' in a nice air-conditioned truck listenin' to the radio," Chase said, returning to her origional sarcastic self. "I'm just curious whether or not Zippy will ever forgive me now?" she said, lowering her gaze to the dust beneath her feet.  
  
Squid raised his eyebrow. "I'm sure she will," he said. "I mean, you two were like best friends, weren't you?"  
  
Chase shrugged again. "Well she was my best friend, i dunno if I was her's."  
  
"You were," Squid replied, and he sounded very sure of himself.  
  
Chase smiled. "Yeah, I guess i was, wasn't i?" then she laughed.  
  
Squid smiled back at her; the awkwardness was defeated.  
  
Zippy gazed passed Static, out the dirt encrusted window of the truck. Nothing to see but the long stretch of desert that seemed to go on forever. She wrapped her arms around herself, wondering where Chase was now and if she was okay. She couldn't believe how heartless she'd been the day before; Chase was her best friend who'd just been going through a rough time. And now there was no telling whether Chase was safe with Squid or still with the man that had picked her up-or if she was somewhere else, completely unknown.  
  
Zippy turned away from these thoughts and turned her eyes passed Zero, to the truck driver that sat beside him. He was an overweight man, tall, plump, yet kind. Half of his face was hidden beneath his thick black beard that stretched up to his curly black hair. Every time he noticed one of the D tent kids goggling up at him he would smile merrily as if to say, "Hello! I don't mind that you're staring at me so go right ahead!"  
  
Zippy studied the lines of age, carving themselves in the man's face. She wondered how long he'd been a trucker-how long could he have withstood being a trucker. The man noticed her looking and quickly turned and smiled at her. Zippy, feeling embarrassed as if she'd been caught trying to escape from a jail cell, lowered her eyes to Zero, who sat half sleep, his head lolling against his chest. Zero looked so peaceful and content and Zippy just wanted to curl up beside him and rest her head against his shoulder, falling asleep just as he was.  
  
Zero's chin bumped against his chest and his eyes shot open, but soon they lowered again and Zero's breathing became heavier, a sign that he was finally asleep. Zippy rubbed her eyes; she'd been up all night angrily fretting about Chase and Zero had been up most of the night trying to get her to go to sleep. Now as she sat there, beside Zero and Static, the truck's low hum lulled her to sleep, and she leaned to the side, resting her head against Zero's shoulder.  
  
Magnetic furrowed her brow and folded her arms. It wasn't fair, why did Zero, Static, and Zippy get to sit in the cushioned front seats while the rest of them had to sit in the cargo area, surrounded by boxes and boxes of dried goods.  
  
"Would you stop it!" Magnetic yelled at Magnet who sat opposite her.  
  
Magnet, who'd been playing footsie with Magnetic for hours, raised his hands innocently in the air and shook his head. "I'm not doing anything chica!"  
  
Magnetic glared at him, then turned away to face Lei. "Where exactly are we going?" she asked.  
  
Lei shrugged her shoulders. "I have NOOOO clue!" she said. "Zippy, Zero, and Static are like the only ones who do know!"  
  
"I'll tell you what's not fair!" Zigzag said. "Magnet gets to be with you," he pointed at Magnetic, "but I don't getta be up there with Static!"  
  
"Well I'll gladly trade places with Static!" Magnetic cried, kicking Magnet in the shin as he had started playing with her foot again.  
  
"Wasn't me," he said laughing. 


	42. Too In Love For Words

Chase pulled her shoe off and gasped at her foot; the rough leather of her shoe had worn down the skin around her toes, making them bleed and stick to the inside of her shoe.  
  
"This is nasty," she cried, pulling her other shoe off and flinching as it rubbed against her raw flesh.  
  
Squid leaned over her, looking down at her foot with a wrinkled nose. "I don't even wanna know what damage has been done to me feet," he said.  
  
"It hurts really bad when I walk," said Chase, pulling herself onto her knees and wiping her bloody fingers on her orange jump suite. She tried to climb to her feet but her feet were numbing with every second, and soon she was back on her knees.  
  
"Want some help?" Squid asked, moving towards her.  
  
Chase shook her head. "No, that's okay; I'm fine."  
  
She clambered back to her feet, trying to steady herself in the process. But Chase's feet were too sore, and now that her toes had been exposed to the warm, dust filled air they stung in agony even more. She wobbled on her unsure legs and wavered on her toes for a moment just before crashing to her knees again.  
  
Groaning in exasperation, Chase threw her arms to her side in a gesture of surrender.  
  
"Seriously, do you want some help?" Squid asked, holding his hand out.  
  
Chase hesitantly set her hands in his and agreed to have him help her to her feet. Squid held Chase by the hand and the elbow, making sure not to hurt her wrist as he pulled her up. She lingered for a moment, trying to keep her balance, but she still wasn't stable and she tumbled forth, right into Squid's arms.  
  
As an automatic reaction Squid had wrapped his arms tightly around Chase, preventing her from falling. But what he hadn't intended to do was pull her right up against him, cradling her as he had in his past dream. The last thing Squid had wanted was another awkward moment as he had recently begun to think that Chase was starting to get comfortable around him like a good friend. But apparently Squid had no luck as here it was; another awkward moment. But the more Squid thought about it the more he seemed to believe that he had all the luck in the world. Here he stood, his arms wrapped tightly around a beautiful girl; even the boy's who were chowing down on burgers and fries right now wouldn't be able to resist Squid's less fortunate, starving position just so they could hold and love Chase.  
  
Chase still hadn't recovered from the shock yet. When she had begun to collapse at Squid's support she had been terrible afraid; afraid that the pain in her toes might have made her pass out and even more afraid that she might suffer the humiliation of knocking Squid off his feet. But now as she stood there wrapped in his comfortable grasp she couldn't tell if she was more embarrassed or pleased with herself. Squid's body felt so good to lean into; his skin was smooth his lips were inviting-Chase felt as if she were in a strange toppsy-turvy Heaven. But at the same time she couldn't help thinking, He just wants to be my friend now, nothing more! I lost my chance back at Big Thumb; he's not interested anymore!  
  
Squid wondered how long it had been; two minutes?.ten minutes?.an hour? He wondered if he should let go of her now, if she was just standing there waiting to get away from him. But then why hadn't she already let go? Squid was very confused and finally made up his mind to back off out of politeness. Five.four.three-  
  
Squid stopped counting down. What was the world coming to? What was going on? Squid eyes were wide with bewilderment and confusion as Chase wrapped her arms around him in return. She had finally gathered up her courage, deciding that if Squid didn't like her anymore he would just pull back and she could act insane because of the sweltering weather (making excuses as if she were Magnetic). But if Squid did like her.Well there was only one way to find out.  
  
Chase had held her breath as she'd begun to wrap her arms around him, but as the moments ticked by her eyes closed and she comfortably leaned into him, not caring if he liked her or not.  
  
Squid had to restrain himself from yelling "SHE LIKES ME!!!" and hopping about with joy. Instead he too closed his eyes and rest his head gently atop her's. They stood like that for a few moments, in comfortable silence, just holding each other.  
  
After a while Squid opened his eyes and pulled back a little. "We should probably get going again," he said, not taking his eyes off Chase. "We gotta find some place to stay before it gets dark."  
  
Chase nodded in content. "Yeah," she said slowly, pulling away from Squid completely and grinning sheepishly as she pulled her fallen hair back behind her ear.  
  
"I am SOOOOOOO bored!" Magnetic cried.  
  
"Well, I know something fun we could do!" Magnet said, grinning from ear to ear. "All I need is a little corporation from you chika!"  
  
Magnetic slapped his hand.  
  
The back of the truck jolted with each bump they drove over and the members of D tent were not enjoying it. Armpit was sleeping in the corner, irritating Magnetic with his constant snores. The others were spread out around the many boxes, Zigzag and Xray eating some food they had found in one of the boxes. They were all tiredly waiting for their destined arrival, a small town they had been informed about by the truck driver. They hoped to find a nice motel there, equipped with a shower and air conditioning, where they planned to stay for a night or so-just long enough for them to devise the rest of their plan.  
  
Some of them were also hoping to find Squid and Chase again, though all they could do now was pray. It'd been almost two days since they had seen them last and they had no idea where Squid and Chase were now. Only luck would bring them all back together again and Zippy was worried that none of them had much luck.  
  
"We're almost there," the truck driver said, beaming at them.  
  
"Finally," Static yawned. "I need to get out and stretch my legs!"  
  
Zippy frowned; if Chase were there she would grin broadly at Zippy and repeat, "We're almost there Zip, almost there." 


	43. The Little Town of Iris

It took them about an hour or two to finally reach a small town, situated just off the road. But time didn't seem to matter to Squid or Chase anymore; they had each other and that's all that seemed important.  
  
The town was called Iris; Iris Texas, a tiny town consisting of a shabby old Bed and Breakfast, a couple of bars, a bowling alley, a small-yet new looking-hotel, a bus station, and a few little shops here and there. Chase didn't mind the size of Iris-just as long as she had Squid and a place to stay equipped with a nice clean shower. The large wade of cash Squid had recently handed to her was burning a hole in her pocket; she'd never been able to save money for very long and as soon as she spent it she'd be broke until someone gave her another wade of money.  
  
Squid and Chase walked past a sign that read "You are now in Iris" just as the sun was setting beneath the horizon. "Finally!" Squid had mumbled, heaving a great sigh. His arm was wrapped around Chase's shoulders as if to say "Back off she's mime!" and as he lead her toward the little hotel she felt his hold on her tighten just so.  
  
Sitting behind a large clean counter in the hotel lobby was a very squat woman, maybe only four foot five? She wore half specticles that kept slipping down her short crooked nose, and she stared up at Squid and Chase when they walked in.  
  
"Yes?" she asked in a rude tone.  
  
"We'd like a room," Squid replied.  
  
The woman wrinkled her nose while looking over the two teenagers before her. They were filthy, smelly, and she guessed they had probably been one of those pathetic couples that runs away from home to get married or something. She was surprised though because usually when she met a couple like that they were both extremely drunk--these two seemed perfectly sober.  
  
"How many nights will you be staying?" the receptionist asked.  
  
"Uuh..." Squid looked to Chase for help.  
  
"Two nights," Chase said to the receptionist.  
  
"One bed or two?" the woman asked.  
  
Again Squid was lost for words and he had to turn to Chase for her response.  
  
"Umm...Well, how big are the beds?" she asked slowly; the whole subject made her feel a little uncomfortable.  
  
"One bed is King sized, two bed is twin sized," the receptionist replied blandly; she was beginning to think this was a very odd couple.  
  
"Well." Chase was still lost for words. "What do you want?" she whispered to Squid, hopeing the receptionist wouldn't hear her (though she had).  
  
Squid shrugged. "I don't care," he said shortly.  
  
Chase bit her lip; she loved Squid but she was nervous about what would happen if they slept in the same bed. But on the other hand Chase was extremely excited; what would happen if they slept in the same bed? Deciding that she didn't want to hurt Squid feelings she said in the most casual voice she could muster, "One bed please."  
  
"Okay," the receptionist said, typing something into the computer before her. "That'll be sixty two dollars please."  
  
Squid handed her the money really quickly, like a small child excitedly buying a toy by themselves for the first time.  
  
"You're in room 25," the receptionist continued, handing Squid the key to the room. "Check out time is at twelve o' clock sharp," she seemed to snap. Then, putting on a suppressed smiled she added, "I hope you enjoy your stay."  
  
"Well she was just about one of the nicest women I've ever met," Chase said sarcastically as she and Squid walked down the hall, looking for their hotel room on the second floor.  
  
"Eh, she's just constipated," Squid said with a shrug of his shoulders, as they both turned off to their room.  
  
"What!?" Chase cried, laughing.  
  
Squid smiled as he unlocked the door and pulled it open.  
  
They both sighed as they stepped into the cool, air-conditioned room.  
  
"Finally!" Squid cried, tossing the keys onto a little bedside table. "Ooh! I bet they got cable!" he said, noticing the large TV in the corner of the room, and falling back onto the bed.  
  
"I'm taking a shower first!" Chase cried, racing into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.  
  
It was the best feeling in the world; being clean. And Chase would have liked to stay in the shower forever if she hadn't known that Squid seriously needed one. When she was all dressed and smelling like the vanilla hair conditioner she'd used she opened the bathroom door and said, "I'm finally done."  
  
Squid had been lightly dozing on the bed when Chase had come out of the bathroom, commercials playing on the TV. Chase thought he looked so sweet and peaceful as he slept and she hadn't wished to wake him, but as soon as she'd come out of the bathroom he'd jumped out of his doze.  
  
"Your done?" he asked tiredly, as he rubbed his eyes and stood up.  
  
"Yeah," Chase replied. "You can take your shower now."  
  
"'Kay," Squid said, walking towards the shower.  
  
He slowed down as he moved past Chase and breathed in the sweet aroma that lingered about her. "You smell good enough to eat," he said. "Stay here, I'll be right back," he added, biting his tongue and grinning at her as he stepped into the bathroom.  
  
Chase felt goose-bumps creep up her arms. Again that nervous feeling washed over her as she crawled into bed and began flipping through the TV channels. Over two hundred stations and still nothing good on. Chase turned the TV off and just sat there, waiting for what was to happen next.  
  
"Here we are," the truck driver said beaming as he pulled into the tiny town of Iris.  
  
"Yes, finally," Zero said, excitedly staring out the window as the truck slowed to a stop.  
  
Static jumped down from the front seat in a heart beat and hurried towards the back of the truck where the rest of D tent still waited for the door to be slid open.  
  
As soon as the truck driver unlocked the door D tent piled out of the cargo area, Zigzag hurrying to Static.  
  
"Well FINALLY!" Magnetic grumbled, clutching at a crick in her back. "That was some ride."  
  
"Thank you so much," Lei said sweetly to the truck driver, who in return smiled down at her.  
  
"No problem," he replied. "Is that all you'll be needin' then?"  
  
"Yes, thank you," Zippy said, accompanying Lei.  
  
"Yeah, you can buy me a large cold margarita and some serious therapy sessions," Magnetic groaned, stretching her arms.  
  
Lei shot her a stern glance.  
  
But the truck driver hadn't seemed to notice Magnetic's rudeness and he just smiled and gave his farewell.  
  
"Goodbye!" Lei called after him as he retired to his truck. "Come on guys," she said, hurrying forth towards a small yet new looking hotel.  
  
Were orange jump suites a new trend amongst teenagers? The squat hotel receptionist stared at the twelve filthy teenagers stood before her. It was a mob! What was it some kind of conspiracy these days where all teenagers were running away from home to get married to one another?  
  
"Hey, we'd like four rooms," Xray said.  
  
The woman still hadn't gotten over her new shock and disgust when he'd asked this, and it took her a few moments before she asked, "One bed or two?"  
  
Xray looked at the others for an answer.  
  
"One bed is bigger than two put together," Static said.  
  
"I'm with Static," Rogue said.  
  
"Okay," Xray said. Then turning back to the receptionist he said, "One bed."  
  
The receptionist was too busy thinking about what a stupid name Static was to really hear Xray. "W-what?" she asked.  
  
"One bed," Xray said slowly.  
  
"Okay," the woman said, typing this information into her computer. "You're in room thirty, thirty one, and thirty four. Check out time is at twelve-"  
  
"Thanks," Xray said, interrupting the woman and grabbing the set of keys from her outstretched hand. "Come on guys."  
  
And the group of teenagers hurried up to the second floor leaving the receptionist staring in shock.  
  
Squid's shower ended all too soon in Chase's opinion. Sure she was excited and all but she felt as if she needed more time to think about everything- she felt as if life was going much too fast. Without realizing it Chase was soon clutching the sheets up around her chin with sweaty hands; she knew Squid would never do anything to hurt her but he was three years older than her and she was positive that he was MUCH more experienced than she was.  
  
"Hey," he said, emerging from the bathroom and moving towards the bed. He was shirtless and looking hotter than ever and Chase felt her face get warm.  
  
"Are you cold or something?" Squid asked, noticing how tightly Chase held the sheets about her.  
  
"No!" Chase said a little too quickly, but she still didn't release the sheets from her tight grasp.  
  
"Okay." Squid said. He paused before the bedside table and noted the time before climbing into the bed beside Chase.  
  
He lay there on his side, studying Chase's face as she stared up at the ceiling. Chase slowly turned to face Squid as he'd been silently watching her for a while, making her uncomfortable with every passing second.  
  
"What?" she asked, eyeing him keenly.  
  
"You're beautiful," he replied softly.  
  
Chase felt her face redden yet again. Squid was so sweet, why was she so nervous? Everything would be fine! Everything would be exciting! Why worry? But Chase was still very reluctant and she just lay there feeling stupider by the moment. With every second that went by Squid seemed to become more appetizing and Chase could feel her guard slipping.  
  
It'd all happened so fast that it took Chase a moment to realize what had happened. One second she'd been laying there blushing and the next she was deep in making out with Squid, things getting more passionate and wild with every passing minute.  
  
It was amazing. 


	44. Sadness Follows

**Chapter Forty-Three**

**Sadness Follows**

Potpourri sat back as gingerly as she could, cradling her sorely scabbed hands like a child cares for a doll. It had been nearly three weeks since she'd arrived at Camp Green Lake and yet she still found it harder than ever to dig a five foot hole in the ground; the earth's surface just seemed to get drier with each passing day. But at least now Potpourri wasn't alone in the girl's D tent.

Vacancies at Camp Green Lake never lasted long, and soon all of D tent was filled up again—but it's occupants would never compare to D tent's veterans. Andrew, who'd recently been nicknamed Noid for his paranoia, was still too jumpy to really socially interact with D tent's new occupants, and he always kept to himself. Potpourri, on the other hand, had made friends quickly, and not only was she liked by those in D tent, but also by her friends in A tent. Beanie and the roguish, rough-and-tumble Blue had since left A tent, but the others were still there, their release dates drawing ever nearer.

The excitement about Chase and the others taking off in the middle of the night had since died down, and life was pretty much back to normal at Camp Green Lake. But every now and then someone would sit back and recall D tent's brave escape, making up all kinds of different situations just to make D tent seem braver or stupider or smarter.

"As they walked through the dessert the boy named Magnet fell into a hole of yellow spotted lizards and got eaten alive," a new boy in D tent would gladly tell all who'd listen. He'd heard the story from someone else and then had passed his own version on to everyone left, following the ways of oral tradition. "The girls all started screaming and crying and the guys laughed and pointed into the hole-or shall I say Magnet's grave!"

"That's not what happened!" a girl named Sticky cried once. "It was all really a HUGE romance tale!" she squealed with delight, retelling a different version of the story that the girls of Camp Green Lake preferred. "See, the girl named Chase was madly in love with the guy named-erm, what was his name? Oh yeah: Zigzag! Well anyway, they both loved each other with all their hearts but being at a camp where you have to dig holes all the time really constrained their love. So they devised this plan to escape Green Lake so they could continue with their love in peace!

"But Chase's best friend-uh, Rogue was it?-was really upset when she found out Chase had left camp, so she too ran away. And this started a big chain reaction until finally all the members of D tent had run off!"

Dice had stared at Sticky with mere boredom. "They ran off so they could continue with their love in peace?" he said in a drawl. "What kind of _love _are you talking about? Are you imposing that they had sex all the time?"

Sticky shot Dice a menacing glare in return. "Boys will never understand the true meaning of romance," she said more to herself than to Dice.

Dice had simply shrugged his shoulders as a response.

This was how the days seemed to pass by here at Camp Green Lake; everyone continuing with their daily routines and only stopping to think about where D tent might be now when there was nothing else to think about. Everyone was content and at ease—everyone but the Warden that is.

She'd nearly bitten her fingernails down to the bone worrying about D tent. She hadn't seen or heard from Friction and Mr. Pendanski in weeks, and the D tent parents were starting to take notice of the absence of their children—especially Twitch's mother. She had started calling more often, always wanting to say hello to her son and ask him how he was. But every time she called she would just receive a message from the Warden who was always giving excuses for Twitch's pardon from answering the phone.

"He's out on the lake right now," she'd say sometimes. Or, "Oh, I'm sorry, he just went on a long hike with one of our counselors."

"I see," Twitch's mother would always reply, her tone getting more suspicious with each call. "Well, tell him to ring me up as soon as he gets in, would you?"

"Yes of coarse," the Warden would lie.

"All right, good bye then."

The Warden never hesitated to slam the phone down on the receiver and then heave a huge sigh of relief. Sometimes she wondered if she would soon die of a heart attack just like the Warden of Camp Lakeway had all thanks to D-tent and their half-cocked scheme of a lifetime.

* * *

"I wonder if it's been my birthday yet?" Static said, bundling up in between the sheets and smiling at Zigzag as he lay beside her.

"When's your birthday?" Zigzag asked, lightly twisting one of Static's curls that had managed to escape her hair tie and now dangled at the side of her face.

"August nineteenth," Static replied. "Maybe I'm eighteen now. But I have no idea what the date is today—or how long we've been out here."

Zigzag shrugged. "We could ask that lady at the front desk, she'll know," he said.

Static smiled. "Oh yeah," she agreed. "I forgot about her."

Zigzag couldn't help smiling back at her before kissing her on the forehead. She was exceptionally beautiful today: maybe it was the way the light shinning through the hotel window danced around her face, making her violent blue eyes sparkle. Or maybe it was the fact that she'd finally had a descent sleep and taken a shower, and now was rested and clean.

The night before all the members of D tent had rejoiced at the privilege to take a shower—even Armpit had taken one! They had all split up into four groups of three; three people in each room. It had started out with Static, Lei, and Fidget in one room, Magnetic, Rogue, and Zippy in the next, Zigzag, X-ray, and Armpit in the third room, and finally Twitch, Zero, and Magnet in the last room. But as the night went on the neat order of the rooms was rearranged several times until it finally ended up in a chaotic mess.

Zigzag and Static had went to bed in one of the rooms shared by Rogue, who'd slept on the floor in a pile of blankets as she hadn't even wanted to be near the two. Armpit stayed in the room he'd started out in as he had fallen asleep almost immediately and no one was brave enough to try and wake him. He was accompanied by his room mates Lei (who gladly slept in a corner, far from anyone) and X-ray. Fidget, Twitch, Zero, and Zippy shared a room. They had pulled the two beds apart and had begun the evening with the girls in one bed and the boys in the other, but when they woke up in the morning it was Zippy and Zero in the 'girls bed' and Twitch and Fidget in the 'boys'. Of coarse nothing too extreme had happened in that room that night—at least nothing anyone would admit to. Magnetic was forced into the last room—along with Magnet, and in her opinion it was Hell. According to Magnetic, Magnet wouldn't stop trying to sleep with her—all night! And adding the fact that Magnet never seemed to run out of supposedly charming remarks, making his speech constant, Magnetic hadn't gotten the long amount of sleep she'd needed. But of coarse Magnet could argue all of this, and the next morning he gleefully boasted to the other D tent guys, telling them what a great time he and Magnetic had had that night.

So far all the members of D tent were at simple serenity and were completely relieved to be where they were now—well, most of them anyway.

* * *

Chase opened her eyes and stared at the pasty white ceiling above. After a moment or two, of just staring sleepily ahead she slightly turned to her left where she saw Squid lying beside her, deep in sleep. Chase looked back up at the ceiling in a dazed manner, and then back at Squid. She did this once more before her heart nearly stopped.

The realization of what she'd done last night had hit her. How could she have been so stupid? She hadn't used her head last night—let alone a condom—and now she had her near future to worry about.

What if she had a baby? The rate of Chase's heartbeat quickened when this thought came to mind, and she felt as if it might soon burst. Chase had always dreamt about having a baby at a young age; how terrible it would be, how wonderful, but her dreams were always like the movies, completely the opposite of reality. She always imagined herself as a young mother-to-be struggling with the decision of either getting rid of her baby by way of abortion, or keeping it and risking her child's safety and health—let alone her own sanity. But everything would always turn out okay in Chase's movie-like dreams; she'd always end up keeping the baby, learning how to support herself and her offspring, and finding a life of true-yet unsettled-happiness.

But now, as Chase lay there, the possibility of actually having a child at fifteen scared her, and she knew it would be a complete Hell.

More fear and anger began to boil up beneath her skin as Chase stared harder at the ceiling, ever pulling the sheets up tighter around her. What would her mom say? What would her friends back in Odessa think? Would Squid even stick around to be the child's father? Chase knew Squid's dad had run out on him at a young age, and she knew personality traits were almost always passed down from father to son.

"Good morning," Squid said between yawning. He smiled at Chase, he was completely happy and at ease, and only until he saw the sour expression spread across Chase's face did he find everything to be perfect.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking worried.

"Nothing," Chase said turning away from him. But her voice was still tinged with anxiety.

"You sure?" Squid asked, a little unwillingly.

"'Coarse I'm sure!" Chase snapped. "Why wouldn't I be? I'm feeling just peachy Squid; don't worry about me! I'm not upset about anything! I'm not worried about having a freakin' baby! I'm not concerned about shit!"

"_Oh_, so that's what you're upset about," Squid said, rolling his eyes in a mocking way.

"_What?_" Chase cried.

"You're worried you're gonna have a baby," he replied. "Aren't you?"

"No!" Chase snapped. But after a moment she retired from her guard and nodded her head. "Yes," she said quietly.

"Don't worry," Squid said. "You worry too much already."

"But-but what if I do have a baby?" Chase asked, her voice relying on panic. "I-I mean, there is a huge possibility! And what happens when I do? My mom will be so mad! My dad will probably kill you, and I'll probably accidentally kill the baby 'cause I'm not fit to be a mom yet! And what will my friends back home say?"

Squid shrugged his shoulders. "They'll probably be jealous that you got to sleep with an eighteen-year-old guy," he said, trying to make a joke out of the whole situation. A second too late, however, he realized it hadn't been a good idea.

"What? You think this is funny?" Chase cried, sitting up and abandoning her hidden refuge beneath the bed sheets. "You think life is just one big joke?" she asked, shaking with anxiety and what was soon to become rage. How could Squid laugh about something this important to her? How could he just turn one of her greatest fears into a joke and throw it in her face? These were just some of the menacing thoughts that reared into Chase's mind as she sat there, staring at the nervous expression spread across Squid's face and hating every bit of it. "I'm _really_ worried here and you're just laughing in my face! I CANNOT believe you Squid! You're such a—such a dumb ass! Such a bonehead! Do you even care if I have a baby? 'Cause if I do it's gonna be your child as well! I'm _only_ fifteen—_fifteen_ Squid! And you don't give a shit that I might become pregnant?" She paused for a moment, breathing hard and staring at Squid with something close to hatred. "You know what?" she said slowly, smiling to herself as she realized just how horrifying this situation was. "I bet you anything that if I did become pregnant, and if I _did_ have a kid you would just run out on it. Just run away from the commitment and work just like your own freakin' dad ran out on you and your mom-"

Now Chase had struck a cord. Squid sat up so fast that Chase nearly fell off the bed in shock. "Don't you ever talk about my dad," he demanded, his voice no more then a threatening growl. "Don't you ever even think of talking about my dad, because I swear to God I will—I will-"

Chase was breathing as if she'd just run a marathon, sweat beading at her hairline despite the icy air conditioned room. She stared at Squid in horror: she'd never heard him speak so violently with any girl and she knew perfectly well that she'd do good not to press the matter, but her emotions were in such a flurry that she couldn't stop herself from speaking once more.

"You'll what?" she said meekly, barely understanding what madness within had brought her to speak. But now that she had started she couldn't stop. "You'll beat me?" she asked, steadily gaining confidence once more. "You'll kill me perhaps? What, are you going to strangle me? Or drown me in the bathtub maybe?"

"I WOULD NEVER DO THAT!" Squid yelled in disbelief. What was she talking about? She was completely insane and Squid wished more then anything that she would just shut up and leave him alone before he got really angry. No matter how much he loved her he couldn't ensure that he wouldn't do anything rash: he had, of coarse, been X-ray's right hand ever since he'd arrived at Camp Green Lake months before and he was accustomed to hitting people when his temper rose just enough.

"Oh sure Squid!" Chase snapped, now yelling herself. "How do you know you wouldn't do any of those things? I mean, how do you even know that you would never leave me if I did have a baby? What, have you experienced that before? Do you have lots of little children out there in the world? I don't know anything about you Squid! I don't even know your freaking last name for crying out loud or whether or not 'Alan' really is your first name! It could be some alias you made up because you're a mass murderer or rapist or something! For all I know you could be some forty year old man posing as an eighteen year old just so you can have sex with lots of teenage girls, make 'em pregnant, and leave them to suffer for the rest of their lives! I mean, it's not that far-fetched: I already know that you _are_ a criminal!"

"So are you!" Squid snapped. "Don't forget you killed a little kid!"

Chase's jaw dropped, she could hardly believe what she was hearing let alone understand why she had ever trusted Squid with the secret of her crime. "What?" she whispered in shock. "What the fucking hell did you just say?" Tears began to flood her eyes without warning and her vision was soon completely obscured: all she could see was the watery outline of the bastard sitting before her and all she could feel was white hot rage as burning tears streamed down her face. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" she screamed shrilly without any previous forewarning to Squid. "I cannot believe you. My crime was an accident! I never ever, EVER meant to run over that little kid! NEVER! It was an accident! AN ACCIDENT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" Chase began to shake violently as the memory of the little boy just lying there passed before her blurred eyes. He'd looked so peaceful, almost as if he'd just fallen into a deep sleep. His figure was adorable, small and stout, all curled up on the asphalt road, thick, dark blood slowly beginning to seep through his little blue shirt and run down the roadside, taking it's time as it dripped towards Chase's knees.

Chase's hearing was now obscured as well, the sound of her thudding heart echoing about her head as she began to feel terribly sick. When Squid spoke again it was a miracle she even understood him.

"You never think Chase, never!" Squid yelled, the anger still building up inside of him. "After you do something stupid you always want people to feel sorry for you! You always break down and cry! Well I've got some news for you Chase, you're in the real world now and it's time to grow up. No one likes a dramatic bitch!"

Chase glared at him. "No one likes a fucking dumb ass either," she growled as she leaned forward on the bed, wiping tears from her face and clutching her queasy stomach. "So get out."

"Fine by me!" Squid said, jumping off the bed and pulling his shirt up over his head. He moved towards the door in such a fierce manner that he nearly knocked over one of the hotel's lamps. Before he left he turned and said just loudly enough so that Chase could hear him, "Fuck you Chase, fuck you."

"GET OUT!!!!!!!" Chase screamed, and Squid slammed the door behind him.

Despite the sick feeling that was rearing up inside her, Chase ran forth and slammed her fist against the door Squid had just walked through, leaving a dent she knew she'd have to pay for.

"Get out," she sobbed as she slid down to the floor. "Get out..."


	45. After the Rain Has Fallen

Chapter 44  
  
Squid had absolutely no idea of where he was going, all he knew was he had to get out of that hotel, had to get as far away from Chase as possible.  
  
She was a horrible, horrible person and he hated her-in fact he never wanted to look at her again! Never wanted to talk to her, touch her, or make any sort of contact with her ever again! In ten million years! Never, ever, ever, EVER! She was a bitch! A horrible, terrible bitch! A freak who enjoyed using people and then making them feel sorry for themselves. She had probably even made up that whole story about her running over that kid, just so people would feel sorry for her and give her tons of attention. She was absolutely horrendous and Squid hated her. He'd given her what she'd wanted last night-sure it might make her pregnant, but she had wanted it! And now she was blaming everything on him? What was wrong with her?  
  
Squid kept thinking this as he exited through the front doors and stepped out into the fresh air. He looked around as he walked in no particular direction, looking for something-ANYTHING to do. He walked passed an old department store that had been cleared out and boarded up. He watched his reflection in the grimy windows as he moved passed, noticing how tall, gangly, and completely lost he looked. Squid kicked up some dust as he turned away from his reflection, thinking about what Chase had said about him copying his father by leaving his child. That bitch.  
  
Squid looked up for a second and noticed a shabby little bar nearby. He decided to go for refuge there as the light breeze seemed to be pushing him that way, and there seemed to be nothing else to do anyway.  
  
The smell of smoke filled the air as Squid stepped inside the small bar. There weren't many customers as it was still a little early for a drink, but the old bartender stood there all the same, wiping down mugs and talking to a gruff looking man who sat at the bar.  
  
Squid sat down and felt all eyes on him.  
  
"How can I help you?" the bartender asked, moving over to Squid and eyeing him suspiciously.  
  
"I'll have a Yeagermeister," Squid said, looking glumly at the countertop.  
  
"How old are you?" the bartender asked, not sounding at all harsh as Squid had expected.  
  
"Twenty-three," Squid replied tiredly, depression dripping off his every word.  
  
"I see," the bartender said, continuing to work on cleaning a dirty mug as he spoke. "What's your name son?"  
  
Squid said the first thing that popped into his head. "Frank Meyers."  
  
"And that was a Yeagermeister you wanted Mr. Meyers?" the bartender asked, setting down the mug, and moving to the opposite side of his workspace, the side where he kept all the alcohol.  
  
Squid stared in surprise; this man was actually going to serve him! Either this bartender was extremely gullible or he knew Squid was underage but was kind enough to note the trouble Squid must have been through. A few seconds later the bartender handed Squid a glass and the bottle of alcohol along with it.  
  
Squid had had Yeagermeister a couple times before and he'd never been too fond of it. To him it tasted like sour, black licorice, and it amazed him that some people loved it. But now seemed a good time to have some sort of alcohol and Yeagermeister, one of his mother's favorites, had been the first drink that had come to mind.  
  
Squid took a sip and had to contain himself from choking; how could people stand this crap!? But as Squid continued to drink it straight from the bottle it became easier and easier, and pretty soon he was done with the entire bottle.  
  
"Zippy?"  
  
Zippy turned around in surprise. She'd been standing at a snack machine, preparing to stick her dollar bill into the dollar slot when the voice had come up from behind her, down the hall. When she turned around she nearly wet her pants in shock; standing there, a few yards away, holding an ice bucket and staring in what seemed to be awe, was Chase-or at least Zippy thought it was Chase, for a moment there she thought her eyes were playing tricks.  
  
But when Chase called out her name, Zippy knew she wasn't seeing things.  
  
Chase dropped the bucket of melting ice, sending water all over the nice carpet, and raced forth to her bewildered looking friend. She lifted Zippy up off the ground and into her arms, and swung her around in happiness.  
  
"Oh, Zip, I thought I'd never see you again!" Chase cried before kissing Zippy on the cheek.  
  
Now Zippy was completely bewildered and only until Chase set her back on the floor did she barely whisper, "Chase?"  
  
"Yeah, silly, it's me," Chase replied, beaming down at Zippy, who'd forgotten about the dollar in her hand.  
  
"Buh-but what are you doing here?" Zippy asked in disbelief.  
  
"Getting a place to sleep and take showers," Chase replied happily.  
  
"Where's Squid?" Zippy asked, looking around, as if expecting to see him pop out of no where.  
  
"I have no idea!" Chase said brightly, still smiling.  
  
"But didn't he come with you?" Zippy furrowed her brow in confusion.  
  
"Of coarse he did!" Chase nodded. "He saved me from this guy who was gonna rape me, and then we walked here, and then we rented a room together, and last night we had sex, and then this morning we got into a huge fight and he left!" Chase said as simply as if she were explaining how to make a puppy out of balloons.  
  
Zippy stared at Chase as if her head had just fallen off.  
  
"Yo-you what?!" she cried.  
  
"Yeah, it's a long story," Chase said with a simple shrug. "So how are you?"  
  
Zippy was still too shocked to answer and luckily she was pardoned from doing so as just then Fidget walked into the hall.  
  
"Zippy where's my butterfing-" she had started before spotting Chase. "- er.Chase? OH MY GOD! CHASE! IT'S YOU! YOU'RE ALRIGHT!" Fidget ran forth and threw her arms around Chase.  
  
"It's good to see you too, Fidget," Chase said, hugging Fidget back.  
  
"Where've you been?" Fidget asked, stepping back and examining Chase in all her cleanliness. "You look great! Tell me everything that happened!"  
  
Chase opened her mouth to speak but Fidget abruptly stopped her.  
  
"One second," she said before racing into the room she'd just exited from.  
  
A couple seconds later Zippy and Chase could hear shrieks of excitement coming from the room, and next thing they knew Fidget was plummeting back towards them, followed by Static, Rogue, Lei, and Magnetic who slouched along behind.  
  
"Chase you're alright!" Lei cried, hugging her just as everyone else had.  
  
"I knew we'd find you again," Rogue said, grinning.  
  
"Did that guy in the blue truck drop you off here?" Static asked.  
  
When everyone moved aside it was Magnetic's turn to greet Chase.  
  
She lingered a moment, her arms folded as she glared at Chase. "You sure have guts to come back to us like this," she growled, taking a step forth. Chase was worried Magnetic might smack her across the side of the head with the way pure malcontent tinged her every word. But quite on the contrary (and to everyone's utter surprise) Magnetic threw her arms around Chase and said, "But I'm sure glad you did!"  
  
"I missed you too, Magnetic," Chase said as soon as the shock had passed.  
  
"Come on," Rogue said, grabbing Chase's hand and pulling her towards the room they'd all been in. "Come sit down and tell us everything!"  
  
A big, fancy loaf of bread, a block of brie, and a bottle of wine were set out on one of the low-to-the-floor dressers in the room all the girls had been in.  
  
"Where'd you get all this stuff?" Chase asked, staring at the food with wide eyes.  
  
"There's this big buffet going on downstairs," Static replied. "That's where some of the boys are right now," she said. Then, noticing the hungry look about Chase, she gestured to the food, "Help yourself."  
  
Chase gladly took a couple pieces of bread and sat down on the bed behind her. She glanced at the wine bottle and asked, "You guys are all drinking wine now?"  
  
"Some of us have always been drinking wine," Magnetic said with her nose in the air as she sat down beside Chase.  
  
"I just started today," Fidget said, fidgeting with a small piece of bread before she popped it into her mouth. "They gave us the bottle," she said between chewing. "But they wouldn't let us bring glasses up to our room so we have to drink straight from the bottle."  
  
"Well I don't have to," Zippy said, sitting to the left of Chase. "That wine is nasty! I told them to get something sweeter but noooooooo!"  
  
"We told you to come downstairs and pick what you wanted," Static said, taking a seat beside the bed on the floor. "But you didn't!"  
  
Zippy playfully stuck her tongue out at Static.  
  
"Well anyway!" Rogue said, sitting down on the floor as well. "Chase hasn't told us her story yet!"  
  
"Oh yeah!" Lei cried, sitting down as quickly as she could. "Go ahead Chase! What happened!"  
  
Chase sat back, swallowed the last bit of bread in her hands, and began telling the girls everything that had happened. She told them about how the guy in the blue truck had turned out to be a slob and a bastard, and how Squid had come to the rescue and had saved Chase by claiming to be an insane person. She told them about the time she woke up one morning on the side of the road to find Squid kissing her neck.  
  
"Oooooooh!" Fidget squealed.  
  
"Was he like, full on kissing your neck, or what?" Rogue asked, grinning.  
  
"Naw," Chase said. "It was light, you know; soft."  
  
"Listen to her!" Magnetic cried. "She's started saying 'naw' just like Squid!"  
  
Chase blushed.  
  
"So what happened after he was kissing your neck!?" Zippy cried, she was nearly hyperventilating with excitement.  
  
So Chase went on, telling them about the random things she and Squid had talked about as they'd walked along the road, and how she had continuously found herself getting shyer and shyer around him.  
  
"I was finding it hard to even talk to him without blushing!" Chase said, she was even blushing now. "And I think he was the same way."  
  
"So you were falling in love with him!?" Zippy asked, her eyes nearly popping out of her head.  
  
Chase didn't answer immediately.  
  
"Well.?" Lei asked, smiling broadly.  
  
Chase shyly nodded her head.  
  
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" Fidget cried with delight.  
  
"So what happened next!?" Magnetic asked.  
  
Chase was reluctant to tell the girls about the day she and Squid had confessed their love for each other, the day they had both just stood their in that sweltering atmosphere, embracing each other for what seemed to be hours. But in the end she decided to tell them as they were pretty much her sisters and she loved them all so they deserved to know.  
  
"How romantic," Fidget said, gazing up at Chase as if she were the Greek goddess Aphrodite.  
  
"Was it just wonderful?" Lei asked.  
  
Chase thought for a moment, then said, "It was better than wonderful."  
  
Chase was glad for the silence around her as everyone tried to picture that perfect moment, for she was beginning to feel terrible. That day, that moment, had been more than perfect, and words couldn't even describe how much she'd felt for Squid then. She'd loved Squid more than anything- anyone, and she'd known he'd loved her back-maybe not more than anyone or anything, but he had loved her. What were all these girls going to say when she told them about the fight she and Squid had had-just that morning.  
  
"Tell us more!" Zippy cried.  
  
"Well, then we kind'a just walked along until we came here," Chase said glumly, using way less details then she had earlier.  
  
"Did you guys get a room together?" Static asked. "Huh? Huh? HUH?"  
  
Chase nodded.  
  
"Chase! You dog!" Magnetic cried, nudging Chase in the arm.  
  
"What?!" Chase cried. "It was to save money!"  
  
"Sure!" Rogue said sarcastically, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
"Did you guys get one bed or two?" Lei asked.  
  
"One," Chase said quietly, feeling her face get warm.  
  
"Ooh YEAH!" Magnetic cried, laughing. "And what happened in this one bed?"  
  
"You know," Chase said, shrugging her shoulders.  
  
"I think I do know!" Magnetic cried, beaming with delight. "Was it your first time Chase?"  
  
Chase nodded.  
  
"Wait-what happened?" Fidget cried.  
  
"So much for never liking Squid, eh Chase?" Zippy asked, smiling.  
  
"Wait a second-did Chase have sex with Squid?" Fidget asked, her eyes getting bigger.  
  
"Oh yeah!" Magnetic cried. "Okay, so who here other than Chase has done it already?"  
  
"I haven't," Zippy said shaking her head frantically. "Why, have you Magnetic?"  
  
"'Coarse I have! I am eighteen after all! I'm the oldest here!"  
  
"No you aren't!" Lei said. "I'm eighteen also!"  
  
"Oh yeah, when's your birthday?" Magnetic asked.  
  
"Her's is two days before Chase's," Zippy said. "September 21-right Lei?"  
  
Lei nodded.  
  
"And your's is November 27 Magnetic!" Static said. "Lei's the oldest here."  
  
"Whatever!" Magnetic said. "So back to my original question; who here has done it already?"  
  
She looked to Fidget, Static, and Lei, who each shook their head no.  
  
"I almost did," Rogue said slowly.  
  
"Oh my God! Chase you're like one of the youngest here and you did it last night!" Magnetic cried, nudging Chase in the arm again.  
  
"Would you stop that!" Chase cried.  
  
"What was it like?" Fidget asked her excitedly.  
  
Chase shrugged her shoulders again. "It was-erm-interesting," she said, containing herself from blurting out 'IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!! And scary.'  
  
"Well did you enjoy it or not?" Lei asked.  
  
Chase felt her face get warm as she bashfully nodded her head.  
  
"Chase!" Zippy cried, laughing.  
  
"Did you enjoy it when you had it Magnetic?" Fidget asked.  
  
"Do mean the first, second, or third time?" Magnetic asked, her nose back in the air.  
  
"Oh my God!" Fidget cried. "Never mind that!"  
  
"Did you enjoy it?" Zippy asked, turning to Rogue.  
  
"Hell no! The guy I was with was a bastard!" Rogue cried.  
  
"Wait a second," Fidget said, furrowing her brow as she turned back to Chase. "Isn't Squid like way older than you?"  
  
"And WAY more experienced then you?" Magnetic asked.  
  
"He's eighteen," Chase said quietly.  
  
"Well I guess age doesn't matter when it's true love," Static said logically.  
  
"So where's Squid now?" Magnetic asked. "Stuffing his face down at the buffet with the others?" she wrinkled her nose in disgust.  
  
Chase sighed heavily.  
  
"Uh oh," Lei said. "That's not a good sign."  
  
"What happened Chase?" Fidget asked.  
  
"Well, this morning we got into a fight," Chase said slowly. She hesitated a moment before telling them all about the fight; how worried she'd been and how she'd gotten extremely mad when Squid had made a joke about the whole thing. She told them about how stupid she'd been when she'd accused Squid of being just like his father and leaving their child if they did have one, and how that had made him furious. She told them a couple of the bad names tossed back and forth during the fight, and how in the end Squid had stormed out leaving her in a crumpled mess at the foot of the door she'd just punched a dent in.  
  
"Chase," Lei said, much more quietly than she had been a few moments earlier. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Chase said. "I'm fine-but I sure am stupid."  
  
"No you're not, Chase!" Zippy cried. "These things just happen," she put her arm around Chase's shoulders.  
  
"Especially after your first night of sex with someone," Magnetic added.  
  
Chase smiled.  
  
"It'll all blow over," Static said. "Just give Squid some time to think just as you've been doing. You'll both be apologizing to each other in no time."  
  
"Definitely; 'cause you two really do love each other," Rogue said. "And if he's stubborn enough not to see that, I'll beat some sense into him for ya'."  
  
Chase's smile grew. "Thanks you guys," she said quietly. Like Static had said, everything was going to be okay. 


	46. Perverted Zigzag Volenteers

Chapter 45  
  
"I hope Static likes-" Zigzag paused a moment to look down and read the packaging on the food in his hand. "Milano cookies." He tossed the little bag up into the air and caught it again before opening the door to room 31.  
  
"Hola chikas!" Magnet said as all the guys barged into the room full of rather disrupted looking D tent girls.  
  
"Here ya' go Static," Zigzag said, tossing her the bag of cookies before he sat down in an armchair right behind her.  
  
"Well don't stop the party just yet," Armpit said, lying back on one of the beds and looking around at the girl's aroused expressions. "We only just arrived!"  
  
Zero and the others sat down as well, looking curiously about but never noticing anything out of the ordinary.  
  
There was a minutes silence while all the girls waited patiently before Fidget asked, "Notice anything different?"  
  
"Yeah, you all look-whoo!-bugged about something," Twitch replied, trying hard not to twitch so much.  
  
"I was thinkin' the same thing," Armpit said, sitting up. "Are you all pissed off 'cause we didn't bring food for ya'll from downstairs? We told you that you could get lots and lots of stuff but all you got was wine and crap."  
  
"NO!" Zippy cried, she was getting impatient. "That's not it!"  
  
"Well then what is it?" Zigzag cried. "You're all acting as if Chase came back or something!"  
  
There was a moments pause while Zigzag's eyes rested on Chase, still sitting silently between Zippy and Magnetic on one of the beds.  
  
"Chase!" he cried, jumping to his feet, picking Chase up in his arms and spinning her around. "We all thought you were dead or something!"  
  
"You did?" Chase asked, dizzily prying herself from Zigzag's grasp.  
  
"We did?" Lei asked, furrowing her brow.  
  
"Well, me and the guys did," Zigzag explained, stepping away from Chase.  
  
"So as we all worried our heads off about her you guys had already given up on her?" Static asked, furrowing her brow as well.  
  
Zigzag grinned sheepishly at her and shrugged his shoulders before he sat back down obediently.  
  
"Hey Chase," Zero said, nudging her arm lightly with his fist as she sat back down. "It's good to have you back."  
  
"It's good to be back," Chase said, sighing with relief; she was back where she belonged at last.  
  
"What are the chances we'd find you-ha!-here?" Twitch asked, grinning broadly.  
  
"Hey wait a second," Xray said, looking around the room. "Where's Squid?"  
  
"Yeah," Zigzag asked, his eyes growing really wide as he too looked around in a fervent fashion. "Don't tell me you just left him with the guy in that truck? Jesus hell, just think about all the things that could have happened in that truck by now!"  
  
"You're disgusting!" Magnetic cried, throwing a pillow at Zigzag.  
  
"No really," Xray said, turning to Chase. "Did you leave him on the side of the road?"  
  
"No! He was here with her and they did it!" Zippy cried, not being able to resist.  
  
"WHAT?" Armpit cried, his eyes bulging in his head. "Could you repeat what you just said please?"  
  
"Ooh! Give us the details Chase!" Zigzag cried, his smile growing.  
  
"You know," Static said, turning around to face him. "You really are a perverted freak today! What's gotten into you?" she asked, playfully slapping him on the knee.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Zero cried, shaking his head. "What happened?" he asked.  
  
"Ooh! Ooh! Can we tell them Chase?" Fidget asked excitedly.  
  
Chase bit her lower lip, hastily trying to think of a good excuse not to; the guys had heard too much already.  
  
"Oh come on Chase," Zigzag said. "We're your friends! You can tell us anything! Besides, if you don't tell us now we'll get it out of Squid later! If you didn't leave him with that guy in the truck, that is."  
  
"Oh God, this is stupid!" Magnetic cried. "They had sex okay? End of the story!"  
  
"Oooooh! It's getting' hot in here!" Zigzag cried.  
  
"Ey carumba chika!" Magnet laughed. "I didn't know you had it in you! Hey Magnetic, why won't you have sex with me?"  
  
Magnetic flipped him off.  
  
"You really did it?" Zero asked, staring wide-eyed at Chase. "In this very hotel?"  
  
Chase blushed.  
  
"Oh, don't be shy!" Armpit cried.  
  
"But, I thought you hated Squid?" Twitch asked.  
  
"Yeah," Zigzag said, frowning. "Wait one minute, did he rape you?"  
  
"Oh shut up you guys!" Lei cried.  
  
"Everyone knows Chase and Squid were in love the whole time!" Fidget squealed. "Secret love! That's what makes it so romantic!"  
  
"So where the hell is the lucky bastard now?" Zigzag asked. "If I were him I'd be with Chase all the time if they're so in love!"  
  
"Chase doesn't know where he is," Zippy said. "He left."  
  
"Now why the hell would he do something like that?" Armpit asked.  
  
"'Cause he and Chase got into a fight!" Fidget cried.  
  
"Have sex with someone and then yell at them," Zigzag said shaking his head. "Yep, that sounds like typical Squid behavior to me! It's 'cause he's so into marine stuff."  
  
Chase raised her eyebrows; what did that have to do with anything? Zigzag was one odd fellow.  
  
"One of you guys should go look for him," Static said. "Before he hurts himself or something."  
  
"I will!" Zigzag said, jumping to his feet and moving towards the door. "And you guys had better have all the juicy details when I come back," he said looking around at the D tent boys.  
  
"Oh get out of here!" Magnetic cried, throwing another pillow at him.  
  
The air was sticky and full of humidity as Zigzag stepped out into the bright sunshine. He wasn't sure where he was going or where to look for Squid but when he saw the little bar situated off in the distance his first instinct was to look there. But after a few seconds of walking toward the shabby little building Zigzag began to think. Sure Squid was eighteen and his mother was an alcoholic and everything but Zigzag didn't want to think Squid might be in there, getting drunk and angry. So, praying his instinct was wrong, Zigzag changed his direction and headed instead towards a small Shari's instead; hopefully, Squid had been hungry.  
  
"May I help you?" an elderly waitress in an apron asked as Zigzag entered the small restaurant.  
  
"Uh, yeah," he said, looking over the waitress's shoulder as he tried to catch a glimpse of Squid's dark mess of hair just above one of the barriers dividing the booths. "Did a young guy come in here earlier?"  
  
The waitress looked puzzled as she glanced from the cooling coffee pot in her hand to Zigzag's eager face.  
  
"Uh, a tall kid with really dark brown hair and dark brown eyes," Zigzag tried again. "He might have been wearing a du-rag?"  
  
"I'm sorry," the waitress said, shaking her head. "But we haven't had much business this morning and I certainly don't recall seeing any young men."  
  
"Oh," Zigzag said, his spirits dropping; he was surprised he'd even suspected himself to believe Squid would be in this restaurant. "Thanks," he said, turning to leave.  
  
There was only one place Zigzag was going to look now, and even though he was really worried he knew he would find what he was looking for in that little pub.  
  
Although the air in the bar was much cooler than that found outside, it was smoky and dank in here, and Zigzag couldn't help coughing unexpectedly. But his search wasn't in vain, as there, clearly in sight, was Squid, sitting at the bar with his head bent and an array of bottles before him.  
  
"Squid," Zigzag called as he moved towards the bar. But Squid didn't look up, in fact he didn't move! He just sat there staring blankly at the marble- like surface of the bar.  
  
Zigzag sat down on an empty stool beside Squid and stared silently at his friend for a few moments. Squid still didn't move and continued to stare ahead, a hazy look in his eyes. It took Zigzag a while to notice that while Squid sat there, his shoulders shook with each in take of breath. And, adding on to Zigzag's discomfort, Squid looked almost on the verge of tears.  
  
"Squid?" Zigzag said slowly. "You okay?"  
  
Squid turned his head to Zigzag and smiled in a dazed sort of way. "Why wouldn't I be okay?" he asked wearily.  
  
Zigzag sighed. "Man, you're drunk, and I gotta get you back to the hotel. Come on, everyone's wondering where you are."  
  
Squid's smile left his face and his mouth fell slightly open as he turned back to stare at the bar again. "Chase is at the hotel, isn't she?" he said solemnly.  
  
"Yeah," Zigzag replied slowly. "But Squid she's really worried about y-"  
  
"I'm not going back to her!" Squid cried, slamming his fist against the bar surface and arousing a hushed silence about the pub; even the music that had been playing in the background seemed to become softer.  
  
Zigzag's eyes fell as he quickly formulated a plan to try and persuade Squid to go back to the hotel. But, when nothing applicable came to mind Zigzag did the only thing that had a chance of working-not to mention the only thing he could think of.  
  
As quickly as he could, Zigzag grabbed Squid by the arm and yanked him off his stool. Before Squid realized what was happening he was being pushed out the door into the bright sunlight.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" Squid cried as he struggled against Zigzag's grip. But the ale he'd been drinking had made him weak and it was useless to try and escape Zigzag. Pretty soon, in Squid's pathetic attempt to return to the pub, he fell to the ground and found himself being dragged across the dusty road.  
  
"This is for your own good, man," Zigzag said, tugging at the collar of Squid's shirt. Sure, digging holes everyday had made Zigzag very strong, but Squid was pretty heavy-especially when he was drunk. "You and Chase have to sit down and talk."  
  
"I told you I'm not going back to her!" Squid cried to no prevail.  
  
"Oh yes you are!" Zigzag replied. "You still love her and you have to get over your problems!"  
  
"I don't love her," Squid said, folding his arms in a childish fashion and furrowing his brow. He glared at an elderly couple who'd just come out of Shari's and were now staring in horror as Zigzag continued to drag Squid across the ground.  
  
To Zigzag's relief, they were finally nearing the hotel, as Zigzag thought his arm might soon snap off. He was just about to pry open the front door when he was suddenly jerked backwards as Squid had grabbed onto a lamp post.  
  
"Squid! Let go, you moron!" Zigzag cried, grabbing Squid's arm and easily pulling it away from the pole.  
  
Squid fell backwards and just lay there, motionless. For a second Zigzag thought Squid was just trying to make things more difficult for him but after a few seconds of poking Squid in the ribs, Zigzag found out that Squid had just fallen asleep.  
  
"Oh God," Zigzag groaned. There was only one option for him now; he'd have to carry Squid.  
  
Zigzag lifted Squid up and cringed at his dead weight; it wasn't going to be fun carrying Squid up the stairs to the hotel room. But never the less Zigzag stepped into the cool, air-condition hotel and began carrying Squid towards room 31. 


	47. A Hangover Unworthy of Rememberance

Chapter 46  
  
The receptionist sitting behind her desk in the hotel lobby nearly dropped her cell phone out of her hand when she saw one of the odd teenagers, who was staying at the hotel, parade across the room as he struggled to carry another one of the teenagers who's backside was completely covered in dust. She continued staring with wide eyes as the tall kid with frizzy blonde hair paused before the stairs to hoist the other boy higher up in his arms, and then began to shakily proceed up the stairway.  
  
"Hello? HELLO?" a man's voice called through the phone in the receptionist's hand. "Susan! Susan don't you dare ignore me again!"  
  
Zigzag climbed the stairs as quickly as he could-considering he was still carrying Squid and his arms were getting very tired. But he didn't have to worry about his arms breaking off for long, as soon he was standing before room 31. Having his arms so occupied Zigzag had to knock on the door with his foot, a difficult task as Squid was shaken so ferociously that he almost fell out of Zigzag's arms.  
  
"Hurry up!" Zigzag yelled through the door, and to his relief it flew open a second later to reveal a large group of curious looking teenagers.  
  
Chase rushed forth to greet Zigzag and the moment she saw Squid, lying lifelessly in Zigzag's arms, her jaw dropped in horror.  
  
"Squid? Oh my God, is he gonna be okay?" she asked as she followed Zigzag to one of the beds where they set Squid down.  
  
"He'll be fine," Zigzag replied as he rubbed his tired arms. "He's just sleeping cause he drank too much."  
  
"He was at a bar?" Twitch asked, his eyes growing wide with excitement. "Woo hoo!"  
  
"Oh, Squid," Chase cried, sitting down on the bed beside him and gently placing her hand on his forehead. "This is all my fault."  
  
"Hey Squid!" Zigzag said, lightly slapping Squid in the face. "Wake up!"  
  
It took a little bit more slapping before Squid finally moaned in response. "What?" he asked, shaking his head in a sleepy manor. "I'm awake! Stop hitting me!"  
  
Squid opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times before he finally realized where he was and who'd been slapping him. He lay there, peacefully staring up at everyone, unaware of who the beautiful blonde girl in the tight, white top was as she stared nervously down at him. He smiled up at her; she was gorgeous whoever she was, and he was just wondering what she would like without that tank top on when the realization hit him.  
  
Squid shot backwards, propped up onto his elbows as he stared wide-eyed at Chase.  
  
"Squid I-" Chase began, but she was immediately cut off.  
  
"I told you I didn't want to see her again!" Squid said to Zigzag who simply shrugged his shoulders in return.  
  
"Come on guys," Lei said, moving towards the door. "Let's leave them alone."  
  
As the others got up to leave as well Squid groped for words. "Don't leave me alone with her!" he cried, looking to Zigzag for help but feeling to ill to get up and leave for himself.  
  
Xray shook his head when Squid stared at him for support. And even as Armpit, the last person to leave, slowly closed the door behind him, he mouthed a firm "No" and Squid was left alone with Chase.  
  
Chase sat there, nervously glancing from her shaking fingers to Squid's menacing glare; she'd been around loads of drunk people before and not once had she enjoyed it.  
  
Squid felt as if the room was spinning around him. But he couldn't lose his straight face in front of Chase; then he'd probably wake up hours later to find himself being cared for by Chase and he couldn't act all mad at her if she Chase was taking care of him. So Squid just sat there, feeling as if he would pass out soon, as he glared sourly at Chase.  
  
"So," he said after a while. "What are we supposed to talk about?"  
  
"Don't make this harder Squid," Chase said hesitantly, she wasn't sure she wanted to say anything to him when he was in this terrible condition.  
  
"What? Harder for you?" Squid cried. "All you ever think about is yourself, Chase! It's pathetic!"  
  
"Harder for us!" Chase retorted. But as quickly as her anger had come it had passed and her body became limp as she heaved a great sigh.  
  
"You're just saying that now!" Squid cried, not being able to think of anything good to say-he could hardly think at all.  
  
"Shut up Squid," Chase said wearily. Then, to no one's surprise, she lay down beside Squid and rested her head on his chest.  
  
No explanations were needed. It was just like that day when they'd embraced on the side of the road when they had both admitted their love for each other; no words were needed as Squid gave in, realizing his faults and how unnecessary his stubbornness was.  
  
It would have been Heaven-if Squid wasn't feeling so sick. For the rest of the day he lay about feeling miserable while Chase bustled about tending to his every need, constantly looking worried. Squid's head was burning with a painful headache and he felt as if he'd just swallowed a bull. Plus the ever spinning room about him kept him feeling even more nauseous and he felt as if he might spin out of control-was it possible to spin into another dimension?  
  
But Chase was there, and everything was fine when Chase was there.  
  
"How do you think they're doing up there?" Magnet asked as he and the other D tent members sat around two different tables in the hotel's little restaurant.  
  
"I dunno," Lei replied, looking anxiously up at the ceiling. "I just hope Chase is okay up there with him."  
  
"Why?" Zigzag asked. "He's not gonna hurt her or anything."  
  
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Static said quietly. "This morning Squid supposidly got a little bit violent when they were having that fight."  
  
"Yeah," Fidget added. "And now that he's drunk-well, it's just a little more risky you know."  
  
"What?" Armpit cried. "Squid wouldn't hurt a fly! Well, maybe he has beat up lots of fools in the past but he would never hurt a girl!"  
  
"Yeah," Zigzag said, furrowing his brow. "If you guys had told us all the details about this morning I wouldn't have left Chase alone up there with him!" He suddenly jumped to his feet, wove his way around the tables, and headed for the stairs leading to the second floor.  
  
"Zig, I bet Chase's fine!" Rogue cried, jumping to her feet as well. From the corner of her eye she noticed X-ray suddenly sit up straight. But Rogue ignored her obvious admirer and continued towards Zigzag. "Remember what she did to that guy at Green Lake? She nearly tore his lips off his face! She's a tough girl: she can protect herself. And I think the last thing they need right now is for us to go barge in on them right now."  
  
Zigzag hesitated for a moment a he pondered everything Rogue had just said.  
  
"Yeah," he finally said. "I guess you're right."  
  
"Good," Rogue replied, sitting back down and glowering at X-ray who was gaping at her with a dreamy look in his eye.  
  
But as soon as Rogue had sat back down, exactly as Zigzag had expected her to do, he had begun to race up the stairs, still worried about what could be happening to Chase.  
  
"Zigzag!" Static cried, tearing after him.  
  
Chase nearly jumped out of her skin when Zigzag came crashing through the door, wildly staring about. She'd just been sitting there, stroking Squid's forehead while he suffered in his sleep when all of a sudden the door had been thrown open and Zigzag had nearly fallen inside the room, Static right behind him.  
  
"Oh look," Static groaned. "Squid was sleeping and Chase is perfectly fine."  
  
Zigzag wondered how many times in one day he was able to grin sheepishly.  
  
"What the heck is going on?" Squid asked groggily, squinting at Zigzag with tired eyes.  
  
Zigzag shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"You guys!" Fidget cried as she and the others all appeared in the doorway as well. "You didn't have to just run off like that!"  
  
"See, what'd I tell ya'," Rogue said sternly. "Chase is a tough girl and I'm sure she's handling this little hangover well."  
  
Zigzag slowly backed out of the doorway.  
  
"Will you people go away?" Squid groaned. "I was sleeping!"  
  
"Come on guys," Lei said, directing the others back towards the restaurant downstairs.  
  
"Alright, alright," everyone grumbled as they turned around and slumped back down the stairs.  
  
But just before Zippy turned around to leave she stopped in the doorway and grinned broadly at Squid and Chase. "Eeeeeeeeeee!!!! You two are back together!" she squealed happily. "I could just stand here and smile at you two all day! It's so good to say you two again! This is so exciting! We're a big gang again and you two finally, FINALLY love each other! And I-"  
  
"Okay Zippy," Zero said, gently pulling at her hand. "Let's leave these two love birds alone now."  
  
"Did you hear that?" Zippy called as she was pulled down the hall by Zero. "These TWO love birds! That's you guys!"  
  
Chase laughed as she watched her best friend being practically dragged down the stairs.  
  
"She's right," Chase said, looking thoughtfully at Squid. "The gang is back together now. And I have a feeling that this time we're gonna stick together."  
  
Squid smiled in spite of his pounding head. "Yeah," he said, taking Chase's hand in his own. "I bet you're right," he said, just before he kissed the back of Chase's hand.  
  
Boy were they wrong 


	48. The Last Night of Leisure

Chapter 47  
  
"This is our last night here at this hotel," Static said, sitting down on one of the beds. "We should do something fun before we have to leave!"  
  
"Like what?" Fidget asked her.  
  
"Go to the Laundromat and watch the dry cycle?" Zigzag suggested sarcastically. "Iris is a small town, baby," he said, sitting down beside Static and putting his arm around her shoulders. "There's nothin' to do here for fun except maybe go to Bingo night at the retirement center."  
  
After going and admiring the large dent Chase's blow had made in the door of room 25 all of D tent, except for Squid and Chase, were lounging about in room 34, with nothing to do but lye there.  
  
"There's gotta be something to do," Twitch said, too bored to twitch very frantically.  
  
Fidget shrugged her shoulders. "There's not much out here but corn fields and long, flat roads, as far as the eye can see." She was propped up against one of the hotel dressers, sitting behind Twitch as she obliviously unfolded and refolded his shirt collar.  
  
"We could go run through a cornfield!" Magnetic said, raising her eyebrows. "In complete darkness!"  
  
"We could go run naked through a cornfield," Magnet said grinning. "In complete darkness."  
  
"Oh God," Lei said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"How 'bout the girls just run naked through the cornfields and we'll watch?" Armpit laughed.  
  
"Ooh! I like that idea!" Magnet cried.  
  
"I wouldn't argue to that idea myself," Zigzag said, running his fingers down Static's shoulder.  
  
Zero couldn't help laughing, even when Zippy stared crossly at him.  
  
"Oh shut up you guys!" Rogue cried.  
  
X-ray stopped laughing obediently.  
  
"Besides," Rogue said, raising her left eyebrow. "How about we have Magnet go out there and run through the cornfields naked!"  
  
At this the girls started cracking up.  
  
"Ooh!!!" Magnetic cried.  
  
"Sucks to be you man!" Zigzag said, laughing.  
  
Magnet grinned sheepishly. "Oh yeah, I bet you would like that wouldn't you Magnetic?" he said, winking at her.  
  
"Oh my God!" she groaned, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Be careful out there Magnet," Rogue said, winking back at him. "It's kind'a chilly: you wouldn't want anything to shrink now would you?"  
  
Magnet rolled his eyes, not being able to think of a witty comeback.  
  
"Ooh." Zigzag laughed. "They got you now man!"  
  
"We should go get Chase before we do anything exciting!" Zippy cried.  
  
"And Squid!" Zigzag cried.  
  
"Squid has a hangover right now," Lei said. "Do you really think he would be able to participate in anything exciting tonight?"  
  
"Hey, that reminds me," Armpit said. "We should all get drunk before we do anything at all."  
  
"What?" Lei cried. "Why would we wanna do a stupid thing like that?"  
  
"To get stupider," Twitch said excitedly.  
  
"Yeah," Armpit agreed. "And, if we do get drunk that means we'll have more fun tonight and we won't remember a thing tomorrow."  
  
"I don't think so," Lei said, shaking her head.  
  
"Come on," Armpit urged. "It'll be just like that time we broke the bench: you were all nervous to get on the bench but after you did everything turned out fine!"  
  
But Lei still looked reluctant. "If we all get drunk how are we supposed to walk home tomorrow? None of us will be feeling up to leaving the hotel."  
  
This seemed to stump Armpit.  
  
"We won't drink that much," Zigzag said smiling: he looked as if he already was drunk!  
  
"I wanna drink something!" Zippy cried lunging forth to the bed and staring wide-eyed at Static, Zigzag and Lei. "Oh wait!" she cried, jumping back to her feet. "I'm gonna go get Chase before we do anything!" And with that she raced from the room leaving everyone else speechless.  
  
"Chase! Chase!" Zippy called as she zoomed down the hall. She only slowed down when she was a few inches from a white door with the golden numbers 31 nailed to the top of it. Slowly, Zippy turned the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped inside.  
  
Chase was still sitting in a chair beside the bed where Squid slept. Her head was resting on the edge of the bed and her hand was still in Squid's. Her breath was soft as she snoozed beside Squid and Zippy was hesitant to wake her. But Zippy couldn't let Chase miss out on the party the others were brewing, and so as quietly as she could, she tiptoed forward and tapped Chase on the shoulder.  
  
"Chase," she whispered. "Chase, wake up."  
  
Chase's eyes opened almost immediately and she sat up and looked about in a dazed manor.  
  
"Chase come on," Zippy whispered. "Me and the others are gonna go out and about or something."  
  
"Huh?" Chase asked sleepily.  
  
"You have to come Chase," Zippy said. "Come on." She grabbed Chase by the hand and gently pulled her away from the chair. "Let's go," Zippy said quietly, directing Chase towards the door.  
  
"But what about Squid?" Chase asked.  
  
"He's too sick to come," Zippy said as she and Chase stepped into the hall and closed the door behind them. "Besides, he's sound asleep."  
  
"Well so was I," Chase said sarcastically. "But you seemed to have no trouble barging in on me and waking me up."  
  
Zippy grinned broadly. "Oh, you complain too much!" she said.  
  
The two girls walked down the hall a ways until they came to room 34. Zippy opened the door, bounded inside and shouted, "Merry Christmas!" But no one answered. There were no lights in room 34 and it seemed pretty empty.  
  
Zippy looked about in confusion. "Guys?" she asked.  
  
Chase stepped inside behind Zippy and flipped the light switch. There was no D tent member to be found.  
  
"Guys, this isn't funny," Zippy said, opening the closet before checking under the beds. "Where'd they go?" she asked, emerging from beneath the bed.  
  
"Are you sure we're in the right room?" Chase asked.  
  
"This is room thirty-four, isn't it?" Zippy asked slowly.  
  
Chase stepped back into the hall for a second and came back nodding her head.  
  
"Then where the heck did they all go? I was just here a second ago and everyone was laying around!"  
  
"They could be downstairs," Chase suggested.  
  
"Ah," Zippy said, nodding her head in a logical way. She motioned for Chase to follow as she walked out the door and headed for the stairs.  
  
The restaurant was completely empty, as was the lobby. Zippy furrowed her brow and placed her hands on her hips as she and Chase stood in the middle of the lobby, surrounded by an unsettling silence. Finally, when there seemed to be no other apparent solution, Zippy marched forth to the receptionist's desk.  
  
Tonight there was a different woman leaning back in the receptionist's chair: a plump, middle aged woman with large, leopard print glasses and a head of curly brown hair. Above her lip was an unpleasant looking brow spot that Zippy assumed as either a badly drawn beauty mark, or a very big mole. The woman was loudly smacking away at her gum as she turned the pages of a magazine with her sickly long, crimson nails.  
  
"Ah-hem!" Zippy coughed loudly.  
  
The woman nearly glanced up before looking back at her magazine.  
  
So Zippy tried again. "Ah-hem-hem-hem-hem-hem!" Chase was worried her friend might be choking. "Excuse me!" Zippy cried.  
  
The woman blew a large bubble with her gum before rolling her aged, brown eyes onto Zippy. "Yes?" she snapped.  
  
Zippy smiled curtly-or, a little too curtly-and said in an overly sweet voice. "I'm TERRIBLY sorry to bother you ma'am, but I just HAD to ask you a question! You see I was just wondering if you'd be ever so kind as to inform me the answer I desire?"  
  
The new receptionist looked up at Zippy as if she was dog poop that could walk.  
  
But Zippy went on. "Please tell me," she said. "Have you seen any group of teenagers parade through this room in the last few minutes?"  
  
The woman popped another bubble before leaning back further in her chair, finally, as Chase and Zippy were beginning to get impatient, the woman spoke in a snide voice. "You mean have I seen a tall gangly boy with a head too big for his body; another boy that seriously needs to cut off on the Twinkies; a couple of shrimps; a girl who needs to brush her hair; and a bunch of other kids who appeared to have death wishes?"  
  
Zippy's smile seemed to grow into a grimace.  
  
"Yeah, I saw them parade past," the woman said, sneering at Zippy. "And now I'd like you to scadadle as well, Miss Congeniality; I've got a lot of work to do and I don't need to be sidetracked by your fakey attitude and dolled up face, capiche?" The woman opened her magazine and went right back to reading it.  
  
Zippy's eyes grew wide as she'd been aroused with anger. She turned on her heal and headed towards the front door Chase lagging behind.  
  
But just before they made it to the doors, Chase slowed her pace and said loudly, "I hope that wart on your face wasn't intentional."  
  
In the window reflection Zippy could see the plump woman slowly touch the brown spot above her lip, a look of utter bewilderment on her face. Zippy walked out of the hotel completely satisfied.  
  
The air was warm but for a pleasant breeze that lightly blew throughout the little town of Iris. The sky was midnight blue even though it was only around eight o'clock, and the only light was cast down by a couple of lamp posts here and there, the silvery stars that were cast about the sky, and the huge moon that seemed to smile down upon the earth.  
  
Chase and Zippy groped about through the night, waiting for their eyes to adjust as they searched for the rest of the gang.  
  
"They wouldn't really have gone running through the cornfields, would they?" Zippy asked.  
  
Chase paused in bewilderment. "Huh?"  
  
"Maybe they ended up forcing Magnet to go streaking after all?" Zippy suggested, more to herself than Chase.  
  
"WHAT?!" Chase cried: the thought of Magnet running around naked at that very moment was unbearable in Chase's opinion.  
  
"Or they could have gone to a liquor store to get alcohol-though I can't see why the clerk at the liquor store would allow them to buy anything, none of them are over twenty-one," Zippy stood, draped in the light of a street lamp as she thought aloud. "Perhaps the clerk is a younger guy and they'll bribe him to let them buy liquor by having Magnetic dance on the counter or something."  
  
Chase's eyes grew wider than they had been a few seconds ago; what the heck was Zippy talking about? Had so much really happened in those few hours that Chase had been sleeping beside Squid?  
  
"Zippy! Chase! Over here!"  
  
It was Fidget, hurrying forth out of the darkness and grabbing both Chase and Zippy by the arms and pulling them towards the road.  
  
"Where have you guys been?" Zippy asked as she stumbled along with Fidget's excited speed.  
  
"Sorry we left like that," Fidget said without answering Zippy's real question. "Armpit and some of the other guys were anxious to leave and Zero thought it would be funny to hide from you but the rest of us wanted to wait for you. But of coarse we were outnumbered and the guys kind'a dragged us from the room and pulled us out here!"  
  
"Where's here," Chase asked.  
  
"Here!" Fidget suddenly came to an abrupt stop. They were standing on the other side of the road, hidden from the street lamp's light. The breeze was more forceful here and it whistled softly as it blew through the dark field to their left. Far off in the distance, on the other side of the field was a grove of spiny, twisted trees that Zippy supposed as apple trees or something. And, further down the road, was a field of tall, tall grasses that cast ghostly shadows across the ground. Chase wondered if these grasses were the cornstalks in the cornfield Zippy had been talking about.  
  
A shiver ran up Chase's spine as she stood there, gazing upon the dimly lit scene about her. She wondered where the others were and prayed to God that they were ALL fully clothed just as Fidget was.  
  
"Hey guys," Static said out of nowhere, making Zippy and Chase nearly jump out of their skin. "Glad you two could finally join us."  
  
Zippy laughed nervously. "Yeah, me too."  
  
"Come on," Static said, her face just barely lit by the moonlight. "Everyone's waiting."  
  
She started walking towards the cornfield, Fidget grinning like a jack 'o lantern as she followed, gesturing for Chase and Zippy to tag along as well.  
  
"Wait," Chase said, hurrying to stay by Static's side. "Magnet is still wearing his clothes, isn't he?"  
  
"Last time I saw him he was," Static replied. "Why?"  
  
Chase shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea," she replied.  
  
"Is Zero naked?" Zippy asked excitedly as she hopped along at Chase's side.  
  
"I wouldn't get your hopes up," Static said, shaking her head.  
  
The four girls hurried on in silence after that, until the terrain became rougher and the grasses in the field began appearing taller. Finally, they turned off of the road and clambered down into a dark thicket surrounded by corn stalks. The earth was bumpy and covered in footsteps, bearing the appearance of being trodden on within the last few minutes. But there was no one to be found, which seemed to come as a surprise to Static and Fidget. In fact, the only thing left behind was a small package full of dark objects that were unidentifiable in the dim light.  
  
"Oh crap," Static said under her breath. "I was worried they might run away like this."  
  
"So what are we gonna do now?" Chase asked, her wrapping her arms around herself against the breeze.  
  
"Exactly what they want us to do, I guess," Static replied, placing her hands on her hips. "We're gonna follow them into the cornfield."  
  
"It's like a maze inside there," Fidget said, practically ripping at her braids. "We'll probably get lost."  
  
Static didn't have an answer to this.  
  
"What are these?" Zippy asked, picking up the mysterious package that had been left behind.  
  
"Those are fireworks!" Fidget cried, her eyes getting big with wonder.  
  
"Yeah," Static said, walking over to peer down at the package as well. "We bought two packages so they must have taken the other one along."  
  
"Maybe they're gonna leave clues along the way!" Zippy said, just as excitedly as Fidget.  
  
"Yeah!" Fidget cried. "It'll be just like Scooby-Doo!"  
  
"Yeah!" Zippy agreed.  
  
Chase and Static didn't get it.  
  
"Come on!" Fidget cried, moving towards the dark stalks. "Let's get a move on!"  
  
"But Fidg," Static said reluctantly. "Even if they did leave clues behind how are we gonna see them? It's really dark out here."  
  
"Oh quit worrying!" Fidget cried, grabbing Zippy's hand again and pulling her towards the corn stalks as well. "If I remember correctly it was YOU and YOUR boyfriend who were dying to have some fun tonight. Well, here's the fun!"  
  
"Yeah," Static muttered under her breath so only Chase could hear. "But I never said I wanted my boyfriend to go and have fun while he scares the crap out of me."  
  
"Well I don't even get ta' do anything with the guy I like," Chase said. "He's asleep."  
  
"Come on you two!" Fidget cried as she disappeared into the maze of corn stalks.  
  
"Chickens!" Zippy called as she too stepped out of their vision, her chicken imitations getting fainter and fainter as she moved further away.  
  
"Well, I guess there's no turning back now," Chase said shrugging as she walked through the corn stalks as well, Static following closely behind.  
  
The corn field was cut out just like one of those mazes they create for Halloween, only this one looked as though it hadn't been trimmed for years as it was littered with loads of weeds and even some tiny stalks of corn that had just begun to grow. It was a dangerous path the girls had to take as they kept tripping and stumbling over roots and rocks. The darkness didn't help either and though the maze was a little brighter than the thicket it was still hard to see around.  
  
"They better not have gone very far," Static warned as she pulled a twig out of her shoe.  
  
Fidget giggled. "It's spooky out here!" she said, wiggling her fingers in the air.  
  
"It's cold," Chase said, shivering. "I wish Squid was here. That'd be nice."  
  
"Well I wish Zero was here!" Zippy huffed. She was leading the way along with Fidget only she didn't seem as excited as Fidget anymore.  
  
"Has anyone seen any clue yet?" Static asked tiredly. "This is just getting stupid."  
  
"No," Fidget replied. "I guess this isn't so much like Scooby-Doo."  
  
"Yeah," Zippy agreed. Both girls smiled at each other for a second and then burst out singing the Scooby-Doo theme song.  
  
"Oh God," Chase groaned. "I hope you guys know that you're going to scare the crap out of the others if they hear you."  
  
"Duh!" Zippy cried, she and Fidget started laughing.  
  
"This is getting really boring," Chase moaned. "It feels like we've been walking for hours!"  
  
"Oh, don't worry," Static said. "I'm sure we'll find them soon. They would be so cruel as to-"  
  
But Chase never found out what the others wouldn't be cruel enough to do as just at that moment there came a blood curdling scream that exploded throughout the silence and echoed off the sky.  
  
"Who was that?" Zippy barely whispered as she and the others had gone completely rigid.  
  
"There it is again!" Fidget squealed as the piercing scream sounded again.  
  
"The boys must just be playing pranks on the girls," Chase suggested, though her voice was shaky and no where near reassuring.  
  
There were a few moments silence, while the four of them just stood there, not daring to move, when all of a sudden a dark figure jumped out of the corn stalks behind them and fell to the ground in a dramatic collapse.  
  
Zippy couldn't stop screaming.  
  
"Magnetic?" Static asked, pulling Magnetic to her feet.  
  
Magnetic was cracking up and could hardly stand with her laughter. "You were all SO scared!" she gasped. "Ha! Ha! That was so-ha!-hilarious! I gotta try that more often!"  
  
"Shut up Magnetic!" Zippy cried, she'd really been freaked out.  
  
"Well sorry!" Magnetic cried, still laughing. "But really!"  
  
"Where are the others?" Chase asked, glaring up at Magnetic.  
  
But Magnetic only shrugged. "No clue?" she said. "They left me behind a while ago and that's when I heard you guys coming."  
  
"Oh great," Static grumbled. "So they are really far ahead."  
  
"Well there's only one way we're ever gonna catch up to them!" Fidget said, beginning to skip over the ground again. "Keep going!"  
  
"Fun," Chase groaned.  
  
"Zero had better give me a HUGE kiss when I find him," Zippy said sourly as she began to trudge onwards again.  
  
* * *  
  
Squid opened his eyes to a dark room that was almost completely silent. He sat up slowly and watched the room spin before his eyes once before his vision adjusted to the faint lamp light coming from the curtained window. He looked around for a second, feeling a little lost and confused, when he finally realized what was missing from the room. Chase was gone.  
  
Guessing that she was probably off in some other room with the rest of D tent Squid didn't worry about her absence as he climbed out of bed and shuffled over to the bathroom. Once there, he leaned forward against the bathroom sink and gazed tiredly into the mirror. He looked ill, very ill. His dark eyes were surrounded by circles a shade darker than his normal skin color and he looked back at himself with a sort of dizzy expression. His face looked drained of it's normal color and as he stood, propped up against the counter, his fingers shook violently.  
  
He turned the sink on and splashed his face with the cool water a couple times before straightening up again and wavering on the spot as the pain returned to his head. He hurried out of the bathroom and was about to climb back into bed when he heard the sound of a car's tires screeching across the parking lot outside as it parked before the hotel.  
  
Deciding he'd like to have a look, Squid paused before the window for a moment and pulled back the curtain. Outside an oddly familiar red colored truck had been parked and two dark figures were climbing out of the front seat, talking in tired voices. As Squid squinted through the darkness he could only make out that the figure who'd been in the driver's seat was a woman and the figure that had been in the passenger's seat was either a kid, or a very short man.  
  
* * *  
  
"My feet hurt!" Magnetic groaned. "I have so many stupid rocks in my shoes that it's not even funny!"  
  
"Will you just SHUT UP!?" Chase cried. "You're annoying the crap out of me!"  
  
"Aw, this ain't so bad guys!" Fidget cried brightly. "Just keep thinkin' about your boyfriends waiting for you on the other side of this cornfield."  
  
"I don't have a boyfriend," Magnetic said darkly.  
  
"My boyfriend's back at the hotel," Chase grumbled.  
  
"OH! So you admit he's your boyfriend!" Zippy cried.  
  
Everyone stared silently at her.  
  
"Anyway," Static said. "Even when we do get over to the other side of this cornfield the guys are probably gonna scare the shit out of us!"  
  
"That'd be messy," Chase said quietly.  
  
Zippy started cracking up to everyone's (but Chase's) confusion.  
  
"Well at least the guys love us!" Fidget said happily.  
  
"I don't have a boyfriend," Magnetic repeated even more darkly.  
  
"Oh don't worry Maggi!" Fidget said, putting her arms around Magnetic's shoulders even though Magnetic was a lot taller than Fidget. "There are plenty of fish in the sea!"  
  
"Don't touch me," Magnetic said.  
  
"Yeah, MAGGI!" Chase said with a laugh. "If you and Magnet never work things out there's always Armpit!"  
  
"WHAT!?" Magnetic cried, racing over to attack Chase.  
  
"Did someone say my name?"  
  
Zippy shrieked again and if she were a cartoon character Chase had the feeling she'd be jumping up into Fidget's arms in a second.  
  
"Armpit, are you trying to give us a heart attack!?" Static cried as Armpit emerged from behind the cornstalks.  
  
"Maybe," Armpit said smiling, then, walking up to Magnetic, he added, "Hey baby!"  
  
"Ew! Get away from me sicko!" Magnetic said, shoving Armpit aside.  
  
"Well this is just stupid!" Static yelled. "We're just aimlessly walking through this stupid maze as we freeze and every few minutes another person jumps out and scares me practically to death! I HATE THIS AND I JUST WANNA GO BACK TO THE HOTEL-"  
  
Static shrieked as her jumpsuit pants were suddenly yanked to the ground, exposing her blue underwear.  
  
"OH MY GOD!" she screamed as she frantically tried to pull her pants back up.  
  
Zigzag came tumbling out of the cornstalks, laughing hysterically.  
  
"Ooh, sexy mama!" Magnet said as he too stumbled forth from the cornstalks.  
  
"Hello Static!" Zigzag said brightly as he lay on the ground smiling up at Static.  
  
"I'm going to kill you!" she cried as she pinned him to the ground.  
  
"Oh God," Magnetic said. "You guys are such jerks."  
  
"We're just havin' a little fun chica," Magnet said grinning at her. "But you might wanna watch your back."  
  
"Oh please," she groaned.  
  
"Hey guys!" Twitch said excitedly as he, Zero, Lei, and Rogue emerged from the depths of the field as well. To Zippy's dismay, Zero was not naked.  
  
"Where have you guys been?" Fidget asked as she bounded off to greet Twitch.  
  
"We found the perfect place to set off the fireworks!" Zero said grinning as Zippy came up and wrapped her arm around him.  
  
"Ooh! Where?" Fidget asked.  
  
"Come on," Rogue said. "We'll take you to it! It's at the edge of the corn maze." She started walking back in the direction she'd just come from.  
  
Zigzag, who'd been smothered in dirt by Static, now jumped to his feet and pulled Static into his arms. "It's a great place," he said, starting to walk along behind Rogue. "It overlooks all the fields and everything!"  
  
"Come on guys!" Twitch said, joining the parade and pulling Fidget along with him.  
  
If Chase, Zippy, Static, Fidget, and Magnetic had just walked a little bit further through the maze they would have easily found the others and they would have avoided that little scene where Static had been embarrassingly pantsed, but no, it hadn't worked out that way. The spot the other's had reserved as 'the perfect spot to set off the fireworks' was beautiful. It was a cleared out ledge that looked over the entire valley of fields, just as Zigzag had said. It also was exposed to the beautiful, clear sky, and from that ledge you could see billions and billions of stars as the moon swallowed you up in it's silvery light.  
  
"Wow," Fidget said, her eyes growing wide as she took in the whole landscape before her.  
  
"It's awesome isn't it?" Twitch asked her.  
  
She nodded her head slowly in return.  
  
"How'd you guys find this?" Static asked.  
  
"We followed the maze," Zigzag replied logically.  
  
"I wonder what would happen if you fell down there?" Zippy asked as she and Zero kneeled at the end of the ledge and peered down into the darkness below.  
  
"You would be in serious need of an ambulance," Zero said smiling.  
  
"Alright," Zigzag said, picking up the other package of fireworks that he'd left at the ledge when they'd gone back for the rest of the girls. "Who's got the other package of fireworks?"  
  
"Here!" Zippy said, tossing him the second package.  
  
"Okay," Zigzag said. "Now who's got the matches?" he asked as he pulled a box of matches from his pocket.  
  
"Have you just been carrying those around with you this ENTIRE time?" Lei asked as she sat down against a rock.  
  
Zigzag shrugged his shoulders as he opened the firework package. "Maybe," he said.  
  
Chase sat down along with the others, Zippy at her side. They all watched eagerly as Zigzag lit the first firework, nameless as it was too dark to read the labeling on the little cylinder tube. When the fuse was lit Zigzag hurried aside to cuddle up beside Static, and everyone watched in a comfortable silence as the firework exploded bright, fiery colors into the night.  
  
If Squid could have, he would have enjoyed sitting there on the ledge watching the beautiful fireworks along with everyone else, but at the moment, he was too occupied with the two people who'd emerged from the little red truck. 


	49. In the Grasp of Fiend

Chapter 48  
  
The three of them sat there in silence, Squid feeling  
  
stupider than ever. Why had he been so dumb as to feel  
  
the need to find out who those figures from the red  
  
truck were? Why had he stuck his head around the door  
  
out of curiousity, just as they had been tiredly  
  
clambered up the stairs? All these questions buzzed  
  
around Squid's aching mind like a swarm of furious  
  
bees as he sat there, glaring up at the two of them.  
  
The silence went on...  
  
"So..." Friction said slowly; extremely long silences  
  
made her agitated.  
  
Mr. Pendanski sighed. "So Alan," he said, finally  
  
mustering up enough strength to interigate Squid, who  
  
happened to be much taller and a lot more muscular  
  
than little Pendanski. "Tell us everything; from the  
  
moment you all left to right now."  
  
Squid sat there in silence, contemplating exactly how  
  
much he should tell these two councilors. The truth  
  
was, he was wary and he still dizzy from his hangover,  
  
a condition not fit for sitting there and telling  
  
absolutely everything that had happened--even the  
  
smaller events that had happened to D tent since they  
  
had ran away could be written into an epic poem or a  
  
HUGE saga. And plus, Squid could name many things that  
  
had happened that were not for an adult's ears--things  
  
he would never talk about in front of Mr. Pendanski.  
  
Maybe Friction, but she was different; she was in her  
  
early twenties and she still understood the life of a  
  
teenager.  
  
"Alan?" Mr. Pendanski urged.  
  
Squid glanced darkly up at him, and then, thinking as  
  
quickly as he could, peaced together a much shorter  
  
story that seemed pretty believable.  
  
"Well, we ran away that one night," he began. "Walked  
  
for days, never found the girls, and in the end I got  
  
separated from the others and ended up here."  
  
Mr. Pendanski's jaw dropped as if to say, "That's it?  
  
That's the what happened over the last month?"  
  
"I see..." Mr. Pendanski finally said after a few more  
  
moments of just staring in silence. "So tell us, Alan,  
  
how'd you get separated from the other D tent boys?"  
  
"I got in a fight," was the words that fell out of  
  
Squid's mouth in an instant.  
  
"Really?" Mr. Pendanski asked, sounding a tad bit  
  
amused.  
  
"Yes," Squid confirmed. "With X-ray. I was so mad I  
  
raced off in one direction and they went in the  
  
other."  
  
Squid's eyes didn't leave Mr. Pendanski's who sat  
  
there grinning, with a nervous looking Friction to his  
  
right.  
  
"So you have absolutely no idea where any of the  
  
others are?" Mr. Pendanski asked, his eyebrows still  
  
raised as if suspecting Squid to crack at any moment.  
  
But Squid only shook his head in return.  
  
"You mean you have no clue where any of the girls  
  
are?!" Friction cried, looking close to hysterics.  
  
Squid bit his lip when he finally broke down and  
  
glanced into Friction's large, limpit eyes. He wanted  
  
to tell her the girls were fine, he wanted to tell her  
  
the guys were all there taking care of them, he EVEN  
  
wanted to tell her that he was in love with Chase and  
  
she loved him too-but he couldn't tell her anything,  
  
not in front of Mr. Pendanski anyway. So instead Squid  
  
just shook his head in sorrow.  
  
Friction sat back glumly in her chair, her face  
  
looking pouty and miserable.  
  
"I'm sure they're all okay though," Squid said  
  
quickly. "They're all strong and smart and everything,  
  
they're fine I bet."  
  
But Friction's expression didn't change. "Looks like  
  
we'll have to keep looking for them," she grumbled.  
  
"Oh God..." Mr. Pendanski groaned; he did look very  
  
worn out. "Why can't we just give up already?"  
  
"What?!" Friction cried, jumping to her feet in a  
  
furious instant. "Give up? You're actually telling me  
  
that you are willing to give up when there are  
  
innocent lives on the line?"  
  
"Sarah," Mr. Pendanski tried reasoning. "You can't  
  
keep kidding yourself anymore."  
  
"What?" Friction barely mouthed, looking on the verge  
  
of tears as she stood there in all her anger and  
  
stress.  
  
"You know as well as I do that they couldn't possibly  
  
still be alive; they've been gone for over a month,"  
  
Mr. Pendanski said softly, but Squid, as he sat there  
  
watching the whole fiasco, knew it hadn't been a very  
  
smart thing to say.  
  
"WHAT!?" Friction exploded, her voice vibrating about  
  
the restaurant. "YOU THINK THEY'RE DEAD!!? YOU THINK  
  
THERE'S NO CHANCE OF THEM BEING ALIVE? WELL SQUID WAS  
  
GONE FOR OVER A MONTH AND HE'S AS HEALTHY AS A PEACH!  
  
YOU THINK THEY'RE DEAD!?"  
  
Squid would have liked to stick around to watch Mr.  
  
Pendanski get pulvorized by Friction but he had to get  
  
away. So while Friction stood there, screaming her  
  
head off and Mr. Pendanski sat there looking like a  
  
scared puppy with wrinkles, Squid slipped silently  
  
from the table and hurried sniper-like to the front  
  
door of the hotel. But just before he raced through  
  
the glass double doors he paused to hear Mr. Pendanski  
  
squeal, "Sorry?"  
  
Laughing, Squid ran across the parking lot, and  
  
through the night.  
  
"We should probably be getting back to the hotel," Chase said. They weren't sure of the time but it seemed as if hours had passed since D tent had found the ledge overlooking the valleys of corn and it had already been a few peaceful minutes since they had spent their last firework.  
  
But Chase, although she was feeling sleepy and surrounded by simple serenity, was beginning to worry about Squid. What if he woke up feeling terrible and had absolutely no one there to take care of him?  
  
"Why?" Static asked sleepily. She was was leaning back against Zigzag as he held her in his arms. They both looked as if they were about to drift off into a peaceful sleep at any moment and Chase didn't have the heart to arouse them.  
  
"I dunno," she said slowly. "I guess I just wanted to check in on Squid."  
  
"Squid's a big boy," Armpit said with a yawn. "He can take care of himself."  
  
Chase sighed, she never really liked it when Armpit discouraged her--no matter how tough she made herself look on the outside.  
  
"Chase, if you wanna go back to the hotel and be with Squid then go right ahead," Fidget said as she slowly pulled a leaf apart.  
  
"Yeah Chase," Zippy said, grinning. "If you want to be all ALONE in a seemingly empty hotel with Squid then no one's stopping you!" She winked at this last bit.  
  
Chase rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up!" she groaned.  
  
"Come on SpongeBob! You know you want to..."  
  
Everyone stared at Zigzag, including Static who had quickly pried herself from his arms.  
  
Zigzag stared silently back at everyone before beginning to rock solemnly back and forth singing 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'. After a few minutes Static settled herself back against him and everyone returned to lying about in peace.  
  
"Well," Chase said after a while of contemplating her desicion. "I guess I'm gonna head back now. I'm really tired."  
  
"Sure you are," Magnetic said, snickering.  
  
"Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer..." Zippy started to sing, rocking from side to side.  
  
"Well, good bye," Chase said flatly before clambering shakily to her tired legs.  
  
"Bye," Some of the others murmured as Chase tramped off into the darkness of the corn maze.  
  
The journey back through the maze was much easier than the prying passage Chase and the others had taken earlier--whether it be because of Chase's new found knowlege of this mysterious corn maze or the fact that her eyes had now grown accustomed to this ever thickening darkness. Soon she found herself in the thicket at the side of the road and climbing out of it was just as easy as jumping into one.  
  
Chase stumbled a bit blindly as she pulled herself up onto the road that led back to the hotel. She slumped tiredly towards the faint lights in the distance that she knew to be street lamps in the little town of Iris, completely unaware of anything but the deep silence that seemed to grasp the entire night in an icy fist.  
  
All was silent, all was peacefully still, and Chase was just about there...  
  
Chase would have screamed a horrific shriek that would have pierced all the peaceful silence about the night-if only someone hadn't smothered her mouth with a firm hand.  
  
"Let go of me!" Chase tried to scream, as she pried herself away from this mysterious person.  
  
"Chase! Chase, it's me!" a familiar voice said in Chase's ear.  
  
A blind tangle in the dark, it took Chase a moment to realize that she was being held by Squid, there in the middle of the road.  
  
"S-Squid?" Chase asked in bewilderment. Turning to stare at his shadowed face.  
  
"Shh!" he said urgently. "Where are the others?"  
  
"W-What's going on?" Chase stuttered. "What's wrong Squid?"  
  
"It's Pendanski," Squid explained as quickly as he could. "He's at the hotel, we gotta get the others and leave!"  
  
"Pendanski?" Chase asked again, now completely confused.  
  
"Where are the others!?" Squid cried.  
  
"On this ledge," Chase said. "At the end of a corn maze."  
  
"Where? Take me to them!"  
  
Chase stumbled blindly through the maze for the third time, her confusion weighing her down as Squid followed closely behind.  
  
"This way," Chase said, turning off from the normal winding passage of the maze and racing along a path only carven about an hour before. "We're almost there!"  
  
The path of broken corn stalks stretched on for a few minutes before the land opened up to a flat ledge that looked over miles and miles of fields and vegetation. The view was so beautiful that it caught Squid by surprise for a moment-at least until he remembered Pendanski and Friction dawning at their backs.  
  
The others from D tent were all spread out over the ledge, dozing off to the peaceful sound of crickets somewhere in the valley below.  
  
"COME ON!" Squid cried, running over to Armpit and kicking him in the side. "Wake up!"  
  
"Wake up you guys!" Chase said, grabbing Zippy's shoulders and shaking her out of her sleep. She still wasn't positive about what was happening at the hotel but if Squid was so worried she thought she might try and help.  
  
"What is it?" Zippy grumbled.  
  
"Pendanski!" Chase said breathlessly. "Something about Pendanski! Just wake up!"  
  
"Pendanski?" Static asked, rubbing her eyes. "What about Pendanski?"  
  
"Wake up!" Squid said, kicking the other D tent boys awake in turn. "Pendanski's here! Come on! We gotta leave now!"  
  
"He's here?" Lei asked, sitting up quickly. "Where? How?"  
  
"What's going on?" Zero asked, furrowing his brow.  
  
"Just wake up!" Squid said, pulling Zigzag to his feet. "We HAVE to go NOW!"  
  
When everyone was half awake and confused enough Squid led the way back through the blundering passage as quickly as a herd of turtles can crawl to the sea.  
  
"Last time I saw Pendanski he was being beat up by Friction in the hotel restaraunt," Squid said as he dodged a fallen branch sticking up out of the ground. "That's when I made a run for it. I have no idea where they could be now."  
  
"Friction?" Lei asked. "You mean Friction's here?"  
  
"Yeah," Squid said shortly.  
  
"I wanna see Friction!" Fidget cried.  
  
"No time," Squid said again as he raced out into the thicket, pulled himself up onto the road, and turned to help the others up as well. "We gotta get out of here now!"  
  
"How are we gonna get out of here fast enough?" X-ray asked, refusing Squid's help and pulling himself up onto the road.  
  
Squid's only plan had been to run, but now that he thought about it Mr. Pendanski and Friction would catch up to them in a second if they were in the red truck.  
  
The red truck!  
  
"I know a where we can steal a truck," Squid said quickly. "If we go NOW!"  
  
Squid began to hurry down the road, back towards Iris, the others stumbling along behind him. He quickened his pace as he realized Pendanski and Friction may have already taken the truck in search of them. All he had now was hope.  
  
He skirted a lamp post and raced towards the dirt parkinglot before the hotel, his spirits rising as he spotted the dark outline of a pick up truck in the distance.  
  
"Hurry up!" he called back to the others, tailing behind.  
  
When he reached the truck he faultered for a moment, making sure Pendanski and Friction were no where in sight.  
  
"Ooh! I can take care of this!" Twitch said, climbing into the front seat as soon as he reached the truck with the others. Then, leaning under the steering wheel he yanked at one of the wires exposed beneath the grey plastic of the dash board.  
  
"Come on," Squid said to Chase, as he jumped into the back of the truck. He held his arms up to pull her into the truck as well.  
  
Fidget jumped into the passenger seat beside Twitch and immediately began bouncing excitedly up and down.  
  
"I've never stolen a car before!" she said anxiously.  
  
Twitch pulled at a second wire and the motor began to roar. "Well, there's a first time for-whoo!-everything I suppose!" he said grinning at Fidget.  
  
Rogue climbed into the back seat of the truck-unsuspectedly followed by X- ray, and the others all jumped into the back of the truck along with Squid and Chase.  
  
"What the hell?!" Mr. Pendanski cried, racing out of the hotel doors at hearing the sound of Friction's truck. The moment he spotted all of D tent sitting in the little red truck he nearly fell over in surprise. "What the- "  
  
"DRIVE!" Squid yelled.  
  
Twitch put the truck into drive immediately and began to drive as quickly as he could.  
  
"Get back here!" Mr. Pendanski screamed, beginning to chase after it as it swerved out onto the road.  
  
"YEE-HAW!" Zigzag shouted, as the truck zoomed off into the night and Mr. Pendanski shrunk back in the distance. 


	50. The Sore Effects

The police car rolled down the dusty causeway, now deprived of it's blaring siren and ever alert police officers who had been forced to keep up their duties. Apparently, it had all gone like this:  
  
After nine weeks of not hearing a single word of response from her son and LOADS of meek excuses from Camp Green Lake's current warden, Mrs. Wood, Twitch's mother, paid the juvenile delinquent facility a surprise visit. Upon finding the place to be a complete torture zone and no Twitch in sight, she'd hired the police to come check it out.  
  
"But Officer, I swear I never did a single damn thing to hurt any of these children!" the Warden had snapped. "They're criminals, they deserve this punishment! Besides, it's not like I'm really physically hurting them or anything."  
  
Potpourri, along with her fellow A tent friends, all looked down at their blood encrusted hands, popped blisters and antagonizing sunburns.  
  
"Well then tell me what happened to my son!" Mrs. Wood demanded, looking as if she were about to explode into hysterics.  
  
"Your son?" the Warden said in a soft tone that could scare the hell out any sane soul. She narrowed her piercing gaze and took a step towards Mrs. Wood, her hands pressed to her hips so tightly that her knuckles were white in her cruel furry. "Your son Brian ran away Mrs. Wood," the Warden continued in her menacing hiss of a tone. "There was nothing I could do about it."  
  
Mrs. Wood, her eyes wide with anger as she'd been approached, now collapsed with a sob onto an old, rickety bench just outside the Warden's cabin.  
  
"And you have no more information?" one of the two surely police officers asked. "He just ran away one day?"  
  
"That's what I said," the Warden snapped, turning on him. "One morning he was here, the next he wasn't."  
  
There was a silence as everyone paused to take this in.  
  
"ITS YOUR FAULT HE'S GONE!!!" Mrs. Wood shrieked, suddenly jumping to her feet and thrashing out at the Warden who stumbled over her boots. "IF YOU DIDN'T RUN SUCH A TERRIBLE, DISGRACEFUL CAMP HE WOULDN'T HAVE EVER RUN AWAY! And now he could be...He could be..." Mrs. Wood couldn't bring herself to say it.  
  
"Calm down ma'am, I'm sure your son is fine," one of the police officers cried, grabbing her by the wrist and easing her back onto the bench. "Now, Ms. Walker," he said, addressing the Warden. "This Brian, was he the only one to ever run away from this camp?"  
  
"Yes," the Warden said gravely. "Yes, of coarse."  
  
The police officer nodded his head in consent before turning back to reassure Mrs. Wood that all hope was not lost (even though his eyes were sorrowful with each word).  
  
"That's a lie."  
  
Everyone, all the occupants of Camp Green Lake who had gathered around the Warden's cabin, Mr. Sir and the other counselors, the two police officers, the Warden and Mrs. Wood, turned if confusion, all eagerly searching for this new courageous orator.  
  
"And Ms. Walker knows it was."  
  
Olivia Danker stepped out from between the columns of onlookers and stared crossly at the Warden.  
  
"Oh really?" the police officer asked, raising his eyebrow at both Olivia and the Warden.  
  
"Yes," Olivia said bravely. "There have been many. But most recent of all were fourteen of them. All from D tent."  
  
Both police officers and Mrs. Wood stared in complete shock, Mrs. Wood looking as if she would fall off the bench.  
  
"Yep," Target agreed, stepping forth as well. "There was Lei, Fidget, Chase, Static, Zippy, Rogue, Magnetic, Armpit, Twitch, Squid, Zigzag, Zero, X-Ray, and Magnet."  
  
The shocked expressions were slow to cease.  
  
"In English please?" one of the officers asked, looking bewildered beyond reason. "And this time, a little slower."  
  
Everyone fumbled for words all at once.  
  
"Uhh... Well there was Emily and Allie..."  
  
"Ricky and...and..."  
  
"Theodore, Willow and Nyssa..."  
  
"Wasn't one of them named Paul?"  
  
"Brian..."  
  
"John, Cory and Alexandria!"  
  
"Hey I'm Cory!"  
  
"Wait...what are we talking about?"  
  
"OOH! OOH! Lei's name was Mahina and Magnetic's name was Willow! I remember!"  
  
"Blah, blah, blah, blah! Blah, blah, blah, blah, BLOO!"  
  
"SHUT UP!"  
  
Everyone stopped and turned to look at Gum who had seemed to break some of her ribs just trying to get their attention.  
  
"Alright Officer," she said, chewing noisily away at the rubbery candy that never seemed to leave her mouth. "They were Nyssa, Brian, Alicia, Willow, Alan, Emily, Theodore, Rex, Ricky, Allie, Mahina, Margie, José and I have no clue what Zero's name was. Now, if you want I can repeat that again for ya' and give ya' a little time ta' write all their names down, OR if you really wanted me to I could recite them all backwards or in Pig Latin. It's too bad I don't know ALL their last names but if ya'd like I could tie a few of their last names into the Pig Latin-"  
  
"NO!" one of the police officers cried. "Really Miss, that's all right."  
  
Gum blew an enormous pink bubble and popped it in her face, looking much less than startled.  
  
That's when the officer turned on the Warden. "Did you know about these absences ma'am?"  
  
The Warden looked about her for support. "Of coarse not!" she cried, almost going ballistic. "It's HIS job to keep these things in track!" she threw an accusing finger in Mr. Sir's direction who suddenly looked as if he'd shit his pants.  
  
"Me?" he asked in bewilderment. "You knew about it all the time! Don't try to blame me?"  
  
"We're gonna call the sergeant and have him come and check things out," the officer said before demanding, "For now, this establishment is in our custody!"  
  
A few hours later, both officers found themselves on a search that was of no use: it seemed apparent to them that no matter what, they were never going to find all fourteen kids—or their bodies.  
  
* * *  
  
"Hey X-ray, you think we're ever gonna get home?"  
  
X-ray looked up suddenly, surprised at hearing his name for the first time in hours and confused about who'd spoken; for weeks now all fourteen kids had pretty much sounded the same: thirsty. X-ray was so bewildered and tired that he failed to notice Rogue, sitting right in front of him in the back of the little red truck, her hand shielding her eyes from the sun and against the blast motivated of wind.  
  
"Yo X-ray, I asked you a simple question dumb ass!" Rogue growled; but she didn't stay upset for long as she was too hot and tired to muster the strength to yell at anyone.  
  
"Huh?" X-ray said, wiping off his dirt-crusted lenses to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. Rogue was talking to him! For the first time! This was all too good to be true! Rogue was talking to him! "I dunno," X-ray replied shortly before going back to watching the simple scenery fly past.  
  
"Soon I hope," Static croaked. Her lips were dry and cracked and her already frizzy hair stuck out about her head like a nimbus of lightning bolts. "Otherwise we're all gonna die in a truck."  
  
"Fun," Rogue said half-heartedly.  
  
Ever since the meek provisions they'd found in Friction's car had run out, the D-tent members had begun to look less like kids by the minute and more like zombies. Around their eyes were rings of exhaust and all of them were in such dire need of showers that it was almost unbearable. Their lips were chewed and scabby and their faces were splattered with dirt and all of them had some pretty bad sunburns. The loss of food and hygiene weren't the only issues D-Tent had to face, yet their biggest of all was no water. Armpit seemed to have lost about a pound or so and Fidget was now so skinny that her ribs were much more apparent then they had been.  
  
"I can't wait to get home and eat a bowl full of cookies and cream ice cream," Zippy would say every now and then, completely unaware of herself.  
  
"Yeah," Zero would sometimes reply, twining her dry fingers into his. "Neither can I."  
  
The first week in the truck had been okay; everyone had been so relieved to finally have a decent means of transportation that spirits had been high and well. They had all taken turns, sitting in the front seats of the truck and then sitting in the cargo area at the back of the truck, but only a few of them were able to take turns driving as not all of them knew how or were tall enough to reach the brakes. They had immediately found a bag of beef jerky in the glove compartment and two bottles of warm water in the cup holders. They'd tried to save all these rations as long as they could, and it had worked—for about two and a half weeks. But it wasn't just food and water they'd lacked after those first two weeks, but also the will to live. None of them could ever really find any sleep with the sun beating down on them all day and this factor had become very dangerous. One day as it had been Zigzag's turn to drive he'd fallen asleep at the wheel and no one had really noticed this until the truck served off the road and skidded dangerously over a mound of sand. Luckily, Lei had grabbed the wheel from Zigzag and had yanked them back onto the road, an extremely fast act that had almost sent Twitch flying from the back of the truck.  
  
But for the past week, D-Tent hadn't noticed much; not the sun at their backs or the longing of their stomachs. Nothing seemed to matter anymore.  
  
"I have to go to the bathroom," Magnetic said hoarsely. She was sitting in the front seats of the truck beside Squid, who was currently at the wheel, Twitch, and Zigzag.  
  
Not saying a word or even showing any sign of comprehension, Squid stopped the car and got out of the front seat to let Magnetic pass. Then, too weak to even feel like stretching his legs, he leaned up against the sun- scorched wall of the truck, not even bothering to yelp at the burning against his skin.  
  
"Why'd we stop now?" Armpit asked him.  
  
Squid cocked his head towards Magnetic who was limping sorely across the desert terrain.  
  
"Oh," Armpit mouthed, sitting back against the tailgate again.  
  
Magnet didn't even make a move to spy on her as he lay back across the exposed fender.  
  
"Does anyone know where we are?" Static asked Squid, referring to the people who were sharing the front.  
  
Squid shook his head solemnly.  
  
"I can just taste that bowl of frozen, cookies and cream ice cream," Zippy said, here eyes hazy and distant as she stared off into the sky.  
  
Squid ruffled her hair in a humorous manor of affection, but his face was still expressionless. Then, noticing Magnetic trudging back in their direction, he moved back towards the driver's seat at the front of the truck. Soon, they were on their way again.  
  
* * *  
  
"They stole my truck! There was nothing I could do," Friction said into the phone.  
  
She and Mr. Pendanski were standing beside a payphone at a little gas station in Cleo, a little town just north of Iris. Ever since Friction's truck had been stolen she and Mr. Pendanski had had to hitch-hike their way everywhere and now they too shared the same griminess that the members of D- Tent suffered.  
  
"Who stole your truck?" the Warden snapped on the other side of the phone. "Who the hell could have stolen your truck out in the middle of nowhere?"  
  
"The kids!" Friction stammered. "Squid! He's still alive! We interrogated him at the hotel in Iris but he just slipped away from us and next thing I knew my truck was gone!"  
  
"Excuse me?" the Warden said coldly. "You're telling me that you had the little bastard in your grasp and you let him get away. The camp is in the police's custody and you two morons are just slacking off at some god damned gas station!"  
  
Friction held the phone away from her ear, unwilling to listen to the Warden's incessant complaints.  
  
"Let me talk to her for a second," Mr. Pendanski offered, taking the phone from Friction.  
  
"Hello? Lou? Yes, it's me," he said into the receiver. "We were just calling to see if you could send someone to come pick us up down here in Cleo."  
  
"You want me to send someone out their to pick you up?" the Warden asked, her voice like ice. "If anything I should be sending someone out there to shoot the both of you! You completely failed on bringing those damn kids back and now I'm the one who has to pay for it! You might as well just die out there in Cleo cause if you don't there you certainly will here!"  
  
"Well she sounds peachy as can be!" Mr. Pendanski said in a sing-song voice before placing the phone back on the hook. "We could try Mr. Sir if you'd like?"  
  
"Whatever," Friction grumbled as she slumped against the phone box. "You heard her: no matter what, we're all gonna die."  
  
"Ain't it the truth," Mr. Pendanski said as he fished through his pockets for some change to try calling again. 


	51. The Disposal of Fidget

The next week to come droned on like the never ending lecture of an angered parent, and it was all beginning to prove very ill-mannered indeed. Sure, everyone felt like drying up and blowing away with the breeze, but these were all minor destinations compared to Fidget's. Ever since she had first arrived at Camp Lakeway about a year ago, she'd been spectacularly thin and tall, almost like a twig. Sure it had paid off with attracting guys and being able to fit in the tiniest clothes sizes, but the only thing she had to wear out here was her over-sized jumpsuit, and out here petite sizes weren't considered anything too great. In fact, Fidget was so small to begin with, that the complete loss of food had made her insides devour themselves, unlike the others who all had at least a little more weight to support themselves, and it was killing her.  
  
She looked so frail sitting in the back of the truck, leaning against Chase for support. Her eyes were large and hollow, as if they'd been rubbed so much that the colors had just been washed away, and she was always just staring at her feet. She no longer smiled or jumped about or even fiddled with her braids, on the contrary she always just sat there, looking ready to be buried beneath the ground.  
  
"You wanna sit it the front seat, Fidget?" Twitch asked her one day, still containing his talent of talking as fast as a rocket. "It's a lot more comfortable then back here?"  
  
Fidget hadn't even looked at him and in the end, Static had to help hand her down off the truck and onto Twitch's shoulders so he could carry her limp body to the passenger's seat. The others found it amazing how just one more week of nothing to look forward to, could make a girl so rib-thin, that a tiny boy such as Twitch could carry her as easily as a plastic bag.  
  
But they found nothing amazing about the dark circles around her eyes and protruding bone that were now so obvious beneath Fidget's thin skin that she could be easily mistaken as a science class skeleton.  
  
One evening, with Lei at the wheel and Fidget in the back of the truck, Chase lay the back of her hand across Fidget's forehead to find that she was feverish beyond belief.  
  
"She's really sick," Chase coughed. "We've got to get her some help!"  
  
"We're all really sick," Squid said, leaning up against the windows dividing the truck from the trailor.  
  
"I wanna see," Zippy said before she too gently touched Fidget's face. "Wow," she cried, pulling back. "That's a high fever."  
  
"She's getting worse," Chase replied, stroking Fidget's grimy skin. "We've got to do something."  
  
"What are we gonna do all the way out here?" Magnet asked. "There's nothing we can do for her. Or ourselves."  
  
Chase sat back again, defeated. But she didn't let Fidget's cold, brittle fingers leave her own as they drove on through the night.  
  
* * *  
  
Two days later, it got worse.  
  
Fidget started seeing things, wild hallucinations as an effect of her desperate hunger.  
  
"Look there!" she screamed out of the blue one day. "It a Red Robins restaurant!" she pointed off into the distance where all that could be found were endless mounds of sand. "Can we pull over and get just a bite Patricia? Please? PLEASE?" the truck zoomed on, passing the 'Red Robins'. "I HATE YOU PATRICIA! All I wanted was a bite!"  
  
No one knew who Patricia was.  
  
Later that afternoon, Fidget saw something again. "Look! It's a cow! I love cows! Cows are my friends! One day, I was running and I said, 'Hi cow!'... HI COW!" she waved at the empty desert. "You know what? My mom got very, very sick one evening and my brother and I went and called the doctors and the doctors said that she had mad cow disease and I love cows!" she started laughing uncontrollably before Twitch put a reassuring arm around her.  
  
"She's getting worse," Chase repeated, staring wide-eyed at the protruding fender as if she too were about to explode into hysterics.  
  
The next day, Fidget was fast asleep in Twitch's grasp, looking like some mummy who had just been disposed of her filthy linen wrappings. Her head bobbed on her neck as the truck moved over the gravel-scattered road and Chase worried it might break from her shoulders and just roll away.  
  
"She's not looking so good," Zigzag said, eyeing Fidget suspiciously.  
  
Twitch looked on the verge of tears as he brushed Fidget's limp hair away from her face, but the tears never came.  
  
Lei sat down on Fidget's right side and gently lifted her wrist to check her pulse.  
  
"I don't want to know," Twitch said solemnly before Lei even had a chance to react.  
  
Lei looked down at the both of them sorrowfully, but promised to keep her results to herself.  
  
As the evening came Twitch moved Fidget to the front of the truck again, saying that it was too cold for her to be exposed to the wind when she sat in the back. The others didn't complain but Static pleaded to stay at Fidget's side. Chase yearned to be there in the front as well but decided against it and settled for a seat beside Zigzag at the tailgate.  
  
"It'll be okay," Zigzag reassured her, nudging her shoulder.  
  
"I hope so," Chase said, shivering in the wind.  
  
"Hello," Zippy said, plopping down beside Chase. "You know what tastes good?"  
  
"A bowl full of cookies and cream ice cream," Chase and Zigzag said together.  
  
"No!" Zippy laughed. "Chocolate truffles!"  
  
Zigzag groaned at his hunger but Chase smiled at Zippy's laughter. It had been the first, most reassuring thing she'd heard since the day she'd been driving around the hill in Odessa, and at that moment she was the happiest she'd been in weeks.  
  
"Are you doing okay?" Chase asked, looking at Zippy as if she were her daughter.  
  
Zippy nodded. "Yep," she said. "I've got enough fat to last me all winter," she said, patting her thin stomach.  
  
Chase's throat was too dry to muster a laugh, but she was happy to at least crack a smile.  
  
"Don't worry Chase," Zippy said, lowering her voice. "You do that too much already! Besides, we'll be home soon and we can all go to the doctors and get our teeth cleaned! To tell you the truth, it was kind of exhilarating before but now peeing on sticks has just gotten plain boring!"  
  
Chase didn't even want to comprehend what Zippy had just said. Besides, she was much to tired to even try comprehending anything at the moment.  
  
"That's it," Zippy cooed. "Go to sleep my little Canadian chum... For tomorrow's a new day!"  
  
"I'm not Canadian..." was the last thing Chase mumbled before drifting off into a long wanted subtle sleep.  
  
Chase awoke to the sounds of screams and heavy gasps of breath sounding from somewhere near. Immediately, she sat up and stared about her, only to find the dark and plain scenery still flying past and the thousands of stars wielding above. But the short gasps for air still came and as Chase listened harder she realized where they were coming from.  
  
"FIDGET!" she screamed, slamming herself up against the truck's rear windows and staring in shock as Fidget twitch violently in her seatbelt, her eyes wild and her mouth agape.  
  
Everyone in the front seat was already awake, with Squid at the wheel and Lei and Static upon either side of Fidget. Soon, due to Chase's screams, everyone in the back of the car was awake as well and all trying to snatch a peek at what was happening.  
  
"Fidget!" Static cried, desperately trying to calm her friend down. "It's okay! You're going to be okay!"  
  
Twitch took one look through the windows at Fidget before sliding back to the tailgate where he sat in utter silence.  
  
Magnetic gasped in shock and threw her hand over her mouth in a silent scream when she caught a glimpse of Fidget, all pale and shaking. Zippy and Rogue stared wide-eyed, as if unable to take their eyes away from the image of her small body being thrown about in the torturous pain and Zero went back to try and comfort Twitch.  
  
"Fidget! Fidget!" Chase sobbed.  
  
Lei too was crying in the front seat, her hands shielding her face as tears poured from her eyes. "Not now," she kept whispering to herself. "Not now."  
  
Squid pressed harder on the gas peddle and the truck went even faster across the dusty road, sending a few of the trailer occupants falling back off their feet.  
  
"We have to get somewhere now!" Chase cried.  
  
Squid didn't even look back at her in the rear-view mirror but continued to pay close attention to the road. But a half hour later, even with the truck going almost full speed, they still didn't see any signs of civilization, and Fidget's condition was getting worse. Chase's tears were all dried up by now but her face was still permanently glued to the dusty, tear-streaked window.  
  
"THERE!" Squid shouted, breaking away from his solitude silence at last. He was pointing at a small blue sign just off the road that had a list of different gas stations and restaurants that was indicating to the next right.  
  
Everyone stared at the sign as if it were a beacon of silver light.  
  
Just a quarter of a mile further and there were more signs, repeating, "Crystal City: next right."  
  
Squid was almost going 98 miles per hour when he swerved off the main road as soon as they came across the exit for Crystal City. Now to find a hospital.  
  
Crystal City was the largest city they'd all come across in months, filled with lots of office buildings, neon signs, bars, banks, restaurants, corner stores, jewelry shops, mall outlets, lots of car dealers, lots of traffic, and even more people walking about through the evening air. But Squid didn't yield all of this as he zoomed throughout the city, gradually decreasing their immense speed. Finally he pulled over and asked a man who'd just been about to get into his car, where the hospital was.  
  
"There's a hospital there on 23 and Brookshire," the man replied, nodding east, before realizing the truck was full of gruesome kids. "It's not hard to miss."  
  
"Thanks," Squid said quickly before pulling away and driving east. 23 street was easy to find as it seemed to run throughout the whole city but once they were on it they couldn't figure out which way the hospital was. Even after pulling over and asking two more people for directions they will still lost.  
  
"Will someone just tell us where the god damn hospital is!?" Squid cried, slamming his fists down against the dashboard.  
  
"It's right there," said a kindly old woman who'd just been passing by. She pointed to a large building down the street where a siren conveniently began to blare.  
  
"Thank you!" Magnet called from the back of the truck as Squid began to drive again.  
  
Squid hadn't even stopped the car before the building before everyone jumped out of it, Fidget being carried in Zigzag's arms as he ran towards the front door. As soon as he was inside he raced to find a nurse, nearly throwing an elderly man off his feet and knocking over a tray of cleaned emergency instruments on a cart in the process.  
  
"Miss!" he cried, hurrying towards a woman in a white lab coat who had a clipboard in her hands. "Miss! My friend-starving-gonna die!" he said breathlessly.  
  
The woman took one look at Fidget's deducted state before calling some of the other nurses over with a gurney and then prying Fidget from Zigzag's arms and placing her onto it.  
  
"My name is Dr. Edwards," the woman said loudly to Fidget. "Everything is going to be okay."  
  
Zigzag collapsed into a spare waiting chair as all the others let out a sigh of relief. 


	52. Eye To Eye With Death

The only difference about Fidget's appearance was that she was cleaner and constrained to a hospital bed, wires and tubes connected to nearly every vein in her body. But other than that, she was still thin, pale, and sickly looking. Yet it was only Chase who was able to look upon her in this state at the moment.  
  
After the doctors had rolled Fidget away on the gurney two nights ago they had moved in on the rest of the deprived and smelly teenagers.  
  
"What's your name? What's your address? How did this all happen? When was the last time you took a shower? Are you on any kind of medications already? What's your parent's phone numbers? Where'd you all come from?" the line of questions were almost endless and Chase was so tired and hungry that right in the middle of them she fainted and fell to the floor, Armpit trying to catch her but missing her by an inch.  
  
When she woke up she was surrounded by white walls and a huge white ceiling. To her left was some annoying beeping sound and something over her mouth kept making loud sounds of exhaling. When Chase sat up and looked around she realized that she was laying in a hospital bed, a breathing mask strapped over her lips and a tube, that was connected to an intravenous bag of fluids, was taped into her left arm. On her chest there were two metal disks that were wired to a machine in the corner that was monitoring her heart and making continuous beeping interruptions.  
  
When Chase saw all this she nearly screamed. Where was she? What was going on? She tried yanking at the tube pouring the liquids into her veins but it was taped down tightly and her fingers were too clammy to do much. She searched the whole room with her eyes at a frantic pace. Where was Fidget? Zippy? Squid? The last thing Chase could remember was waking up to screams and heavy gasps for breath, coming from nearby.  
  
"Good morning Ms. Moon!"  
  
Chase jumped back in her bed, banging her head against the wall behind her.  
  
"Oops! You gotta watch out for that! Are you okay?" A blonde woman wearing half-moon spectacles that were chained about her neck walked up to examine the back of Chase's head. "Awe," she said, gently pressing the back of Chase's head with her cold fingers. "It'll just leave a small bump. Nothing too bad." She stepped back and smiled at Chase. "So how are you doing today?"  
  
Chase's breathing was so fast and the mask made it so loud that she could hardly speak. "Wh-Where am I?" she finally gasped.  
  
"You're in a hospital," the woman replied slowly before stepping forth and removing Chase's respiration mask. "In Crystal City, Texas."  
  
The dark scenery of the desert, Fidget's eyes rolling back into her head, Chase's sobs, Squid completely ignoring her warnings, the signs, the neon lights, the gurney-  
  
It all came back to Chase like a fist to her forehead and without thinking she fell back and hit her head against the wall again.  
  
"Ouch!" the doctor said, helping Chase move forth in her bed. "I'll have to have them move this bed forward." She smiled down at Chase and then asked again. "How are you doing? Are you feeling any real pain?"  
  
For a second Chase wondered what this woman's definition of 'real pain' was but then decided against asking. "I'm fine," she said. "But what's this thing?" she asked, nodding towards her left arm but not daring to look at the tube surging through her skin.  
  
"Oh, that's an intravenous tube that we needed to use to supply your veins with the lost nutrients. According to one of your friends you all had ran away from a camp and had starved?"  
  
Chase shrugged, she couldn't remember all the details just yet. Then she remembered the others and how they'd all been dying of starvation as well. "How's Squid?" she asked suddenly.  
  
"Who?" the doctor asked, furrowing her brow.  
  
"Uh... Um..." Chase stumbled for words. What was his name again. "Alan! How is he?"  
  
"Ah, yes, he was asking for you earlier as well," she smiled. "He's perfectly fine. His heart rate is normal and the intravenous system we hooked him up to had no difficulties. In fact, he was a lot better off then most of you."  
  
"And the others?" Chase asked. "How's Allie doing?"  
  
"Hmm..." The doctor mused, looking over a clipboard she'd brought along with her. "Allie Robertson?" she asked.  
  
Chase nodded.  
  
"Well she was put into Intensive Care last night due to respiratory failures and an extreme case of malnutrition and they connected her to four intravenous tubes," the doctor skimmed the information on her clipboard. "She hasn't waken up at all since she got here but they're saying she'll be fine later."  
  
Chase didn't feel all that reassured. "Can I visit her?" she asked.  
  
"How about we save that for tomorrow," the doctor said slowly. "We still have to make sure you're getting enough nutrition."  
  
Chase lay back in bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. Somehow, she was now completely clean. Her hair was untangled and her skin was smooth and clean, and yet she still smelt like a hospital. She was dressed in a hospital gown and about her wrists were tied to strips of informational numbers that she didn't understand. She decided she would ask about visiting Fidget again later but just as she was thinking this her eyes closed and she drifted into a soft sleep.  
  
When Chase woke up she heard the same annoying beeping sound at her side only now it was so aggravating that she stood up and pulled the two metal disks from her chest, letting them drop to the floor beside her. Not taking heed of the suddenly pulsating beeping that surged from the heart monitor and erupted about the room. Instead she sat there peeling at the thick adhesive tape that kept the intravenous tube plastered into her vein. Her mind wasn't quite sure what or why she was doing all of this, but her fingers seemed to know exactly what they were doing as they ripped the tube from her arm, exposing a long thin slit in her skin. Blood began to trickle down to her hand but she didn't care. Finally, when she was finished, she moved towards the exit and then wandered down the hall. Everything was completely white. The walls, the ceiling, the icy cold floor beneath her bare feet, the smock she was wearing, and even the blood that dripped from her finger tips had a sort of whitish glimmer to it. But the hall was empty. Chase had no idea where she was going but soon she came to a flight of stairs and, following her instinct, began to climb them. When she found herself upon the landing, she turned right and continued down a new white hall, this one filled with people who were too busy worrying about their own patients to mind Chase. So she continued walking. The next thing she knew she was passing a sign that read, "Intensive Care" and a second later she was standing before room 644. From inside of the room she could hear someone sobbing and screaming out in insanity. She stood there a moment, her breath becoming sharp as she drew it, just as it had when she'd been wearing the mask. But she had to see for herself, make sure everything was okay. She took a deep breath, clenched her fists and then opened the door.  
  
A tube was connected to Fidget's every vein, her skin was peeling away, her ribs were ripping through her chest and her eye sockets were completely hollow, you couldn't even see the whites of her eyes.  
  
Chase would have screamed as she jumped out of her sleep but the mask was tied back onto her face and her breathing was too deep to scream. But the dream had frightened her so much that she felt like a small child again; she felt as if racing into her mother's room and curling up beside her would make all these nightmares go away. But Chase's mother was miles and miles away, completely unaware of her daughter's despair.  
  
Chase was alone in her room again—or at least her half of the room. To her left, behind all the machinery that was keeping her healthy, there was a huge, dividing curtain and Chase had no idea who might be on the other side.  
  
"Hello?" she called, thinking it might be one of her friends.  
  
No one answered.  
  
Chase pushed her head back into the pillows, now feeling completely alone.  
  
"Hi," a small voice replied.  
  
Chase sat up. "Hi," she said softly, not wanting to scare her room mate.  
  
"Hi," the voice echoed.  
  
"What's your name?" Chase asked.  
  
There was a muffled cough and then, "I'm Tober."  
  
"Tober," Chase repeated, thinking that the voice belonged to a little boy. "My name is Emily," she said, smiling to herself. "But you can call me Chase."  
  
"Why's your name Chase?" Tober asked.  
  
"Because my friends think I can run fast," Chase replied.  
  
"I can't," Tober said, sounding sorrowful.  
  
Chase longed to catch a glimpse of him as she loved children and this Tober had the sweetest voice.  
  
"Awe," Chase said. "All you need is practice! Besides, I'm sure there must be something you can do really well."  
  
Tober was silent for a moment, as he thought. Then he said, "I can tie my shoes!"  
  
Chase smiled so big she felt as if her lips were split. "How old are you, Tober?" she asked.  
  
"I'm this many!" Tober said, then he paused and began counting his fingers under his breath. "I'm five and a half!" he said proudly. "How's old are you?"  
  
"I'm fifteen," Chase said softly.  
  
"Wow," Tober said in a hushed voice. "You're OLD!"  
  
Chase laughed. "Yes I am," she agreed. "But not old enough," she said to herself. "Not old enough."  
  
"My mommy said I'm not old enough too," Tober commented. Chase wondered how he'd heard her. "But I didn't listen."  
  
Chase had just been about to ask him what he meant when her doctor walked in to check up on her. "So," she said smiling. "How are you feeling today?"  
  
"What do you mean today?" Chase asked. "You just asked me how I was doing today."  
  
"Don't tell me that bump on your head gave you amnesia!" the doctor said, her eyebrows raised. "I asked you how you were yesterday but not today!"  
  
Chase stared at her in disbelief. Had she really been asleep that long?  
  
The doctor stepped forth and began pulling the small metal disks off Chase's chest before she began to work at the intravenous tube. "There we go," she said, finally pulling the tube free to reveal that there was only a tiny scar rather than a long slit. Relieved, Chase moved her arm up and down to find that there was no pain.  
  
"You can get up and go to the bathroom now if you'd like," the doctor said. "I'll go and get you a drink 'cause you need as much fluids as possible." She began to move towards the door again. "The bathroom's right there," she said, gesturing towards a bathroom that stood at the front of the room, half in Tober's ward and half in Chase's. As the doctor left, Chase got up and shakily moved towards the restroom.  
  
When she was halfway there she turned to glance back as Tober's ward was almost completely exposed from here. In the middle of the ward, on a bed identical to Chase's, there lay a small boy with sandy blonde hair and big green eyes. From his nose there protruded a respiration tube and in each arm and leg there sprouted an intravenous tube that was supplying the small child with blood. The boy was adorable and his small body and round face looked completely out of place tied up in that bed. At a first glance, Chase couldn't tell what was wrong with him, but then as she stared longer she realized that the boy's tiny legs were crushed, one looking bent out of shape and the other looking squashed, as if someone had run over it with their bike—or car. Tober noticed Chase looking at him and he smiled. That's when Chase realized that the boy had no idea what had happened to him, and had no idea that he would never walk again.  
  
Chase hurried into the bathroom as she felt terribly sick. The memories of the boy she'd hit tormenting her head until at last she threw up the meek fluids the doctors had been supplying her with. * * *  
  
The halls were completely white and the white tiled floor wound about the building like a road. The floor was icy beneath her feet, and beneath her white gown she trembled at it's freezing effect.  
  
"This way," the blonde nurse said, turning away from the quiet hall and proceeding up a fleet of stairs. When they reached the landing they turned right and began down a new hall, just as white as the first but much busier. There were nurses everywhere: pushing the injured on their bloodstained carts; tending to lost children, crying and screaming for their missing parents; and even preparing themselves for the heavy burden of informing people that their loved ones had passed. No one showed any notion of noticing the tall blonde girl, walking barefoot down the hall like a solemn ghost.  
  
For that's what Chase felt like.  
  
"Here we are," the nurse said, slowing down as they passed a sign on the wall that read 'Intensive Care'. She stopped before a thick cedar door with the black lettering 'Room 644' plastered to it, and pulled it open before nodding Chase in.  
  
The room was tiny, barely big enough for all the equipment and instruments that occupied it. All around the walls were computers made to measure heart rates, pulses, and breathing, which were strewn with tubes and wires and cords leading up to the bed in the center of it all.  
  
Chase stepped forth, unaware and unmoved by the nurse, still standing at the door.  
  
"Fidget?" she asked, taking the small brittle hand in her own.  
  
Fidget was cold and pale but she still had her eyes and she was looking much better then she had been. Her long sandy hair had been pulled clean from her braids and hung loosely down to her waste, making her look like some medieval princess or something. Around her eyes were dark circles, and her skin looked dry and creased, almost as if Fidget was now on some futuristic treatment to make her age in minutes. The patient's gown she wore clung openly about her shoulders as it was about three sizes too big for her, but on the whole Chase could see some immense improvements about her as her ribs no longer stuck out of her skin.  
  
"Fidget?" Chase whispered again, kneeling down beside the bed and leaning up against it.  
  
"We've got her on some serious medications," the nurse said. "We had to put her on Benzocaine which is a bulk forming substance that increases stomach fullness. We also had to put her on such medications as Methyliphenidate, to calm her hyperactivity."  
  
Chase wondered if they'd had to use the same medication on Twitch, but she knew that if they hadn't used it, they would have used something stronger.  
  
"Is she gonna be okay?" Chase asked, her voice breaking at the very thought of Fidget's state.  
  
The nurse's solemn expression didn't change as she spoke. "Well," she said. "The medications we have her on now are helping her, but with a case this serious we may have to switch her to things such as epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine which can technically result in a starvation- conservation mode; meaning that her condition could in theory get worse." The nurse paused and sighed. "All we can do now is continue giving her the current medications and hope that her body has already developed a high serotonin level."  
  
Chase had absolutely no idea what the nurse was talking about but it didn't sound good.  
  
The nurse smiled meekly, as if to reassure Chase, and then said as she moved towards the door, "I'll leave you two alone and be back later to take you back downstairs." And with that she turned and left the room.  
  
Chase looked back at her feeble friend, barely kept alive by the nutrients that were being plugged into her.  
  
"It's gonna be okay," Chase said, trying to keep calm as she stroked Fidget's forehead. "We'll all get out of this together." She tried to take a deep, shaky breath, but it all resulted in a deep sob and when the nurse returned she found Chase crying on the floor.  
  
* * *  
  
"You know what?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I have a doggie. Her name is Reggie!"  
  
Chase smiled, happy to be back in her small hospital bed and sharing a conversation with Tober.  
  
"I have a doggie too!" Chase said.  
  
"REALLY?" Tober gasped as if he just could not believe it. "What's her name!?" he asked excitedly.  
  
"Shoobie," Chase replied. "She's a fuzzy black dog that's part Australian cattle dog."  
  
"She's part cow!?" Tober cried. "I wanna see her!"  
  
Chase laughed. "I wanna see her too..." she said to herself.  
  
Suddenly the door opened and a nurse poked her head around the door. "Emily Moon?" she asked. "You have some visitors. Shall I let them in?"  
  
Chase nodded.  
  
"WOW! Do you come from the moon?" Tober asked from the other side of the curtain.  
  
Chase burst out laughing: the little boy's excitement was just too much.  
  
"What's so funny?" Twitch asked, stepping into the room.  
  
"TWITCH!" Chase cried, wrapping her arms around him as he approached her bed. She was so happy to see him well she was hardly expecting the group that followed him through the door. First, Zippy bounded into the room and dived onto Chase's bed in an eruption of excitement. Close to follow her was Zero, Lei, Static, Armpit, and Squid.  
  
Chase had to jump out of bed just to hug them all.  
  
"Oh my god! I'm SO happy you're all okay!" she cried, wiping tears from her eyes as she sat down next to Zippy again. "Where are the others?"  
  
"X-ray's gone visiting Rogue," Lei squealed, grinning uncontrollably. On her neck there was a large patch like a wound bandage that Chase was wondering about, but didn't get the chance to ask about, and her ankles looked rather bloodied and bruised.  
  
"And Zigzag was with us a second ago but I think he got sidetracked by the ER ward for really bad burns," Static said, shrugging her shoulders.  
  
Chase smiled. "Yeah?" she said. "And what about Magnetic and Magnet?"  
  
"Oh who KNOWS what they're up to!" Armpit said, winking.  
  
"So how's life?" Zero asked, grinning widely as he sat down next to Zippy.  
  
Chase looked around at her bruised and sickly looking friends, all standing about in their hospital clothes and looking completely different then Chase had ever seen them. That's when she replied, "Life is pretty good right now." 


	53. Pulling The Plug

"There's this guy who was in the same room as me and he had Hepatitis B!" Twitch cried as he yanked on a loose thread on his hospital robe. It was obvious that with the loss of Fidget he was now picking up her habits.  
  
"What's that?" Zippy asked, furrowing her brow.  
  
"You never got your Hepatitis shots before?" Static asked, her eyes wide in disbelief.  
  
"No," Zippy snapped. "I got them! I just don't know what the heck it is!"  
  
"It's a really bad disease that makes you puke a lot!" Twitch replied. "Believe me: I know! Stacey was puking all the time!"  
  
"Who's Stacey?" Armpit asked.  
  
"The guy who had the disease!" Twitch said, getting frustrated. "Anyway, he said he got it from having sex with too many people."  
  
"Hmm... I wonder if Magnetic will ever get this Hepatitis B," Lei said.  
  
"And then pass it on to Magnet," Armpit added. "Tragic."  
  
"Yeah, a real Romeo and Juliet story," Squid said, shaking his head. "They finally fall in love, have sex, and then die because of it. Sounds like fun."  
  
"You guys shut up!" Chase cried under her breath. "Tober's only five!"  
  
"Who?" Zero asked.  
  
Chase pointed at the curtains and they all got the message.  
  
Zippy began to giggle. "Oopsie!" she laughed. "So-um-Twitch, tell us more about this Stacey guy in a G manor please."  
  
Twitch smiled then continued with his jumping recollection. "Well he told me about how I should never 'do it' with more than one person in six months, otherwise I would be at a greater risk of getting the disease and it did not sound pretty. He was never hungry, he was always puking, and today when I left the room I got to catch a glimpse of him and guess what!?"  
  
"What?" Zippy asked.  
  
"His skin was yellow!" Twitch concluded.  
  
"Jeez, looks like I'll have to stop doin' it with so many people now, eh?" Squid said smiling, only to be punched in the arm by Chase.  
  
"That's gross though," Lei said. "Yellow skin?"  
  
"Yep!" Twitch said grinning. "And yellow eyes as well!"  
  
Lei wrinkled her nose in contort.  
  
"There was this woman in my ward who had something wrong with her face," Zippy said. "She never EVER talked to me, but there was this one time when the doctors had to wheel her into a different room and I got to see her then. Her face looked like boiling water or something cause there were all these bubbles under her skin and her neck was all burned." Zippy paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "Then there was also this sixteen year-old boy in my room who kept asking me if I was hot." Zero sat up straighter when Zippy mentioned this. "He said his name was Joe but he would never tell me what had happened to him so I lied and said that I was in the hospital because some fat guy had tripped on his blubber and sat on my foot. I told Joe that the guy's butt had squashed my foot and so I needed surgery. He said I was sick and twisted and then he asked me if I was hot for the twelfth time." Zippy smiled mischievously. "I counted," she said proudly.  
  
"Good for you Zip," Chase said, patting Zippy on her head. "Now your life has finally amounted to something and you can sit back and watch Zero bring home the bacon."  
  
Zippy smiled like a pleased dog. "And the sausage and cheese balls!"  
  
Chase pulled her hand away from Zippy as quickly as she could.  
  
"Yum... That sounds good," Armpit said.  
  
Squid burst out laughing, unable to refrain himself any longer.  
  
"What?" Armpit asked, completely bewildered.  
  
"Well anyway!" Static said, shaking her head. "My roommate was Twitch and I could hardly get ANY sleep or peace with him being right next-door! At least until they gave him the Meth, that is."  
  
"Oh," Chase said. "They put you on the Methylifenidote stuff too?"  
  
"Yeah," Twitch said, his voice getting softer. "They've got Fidget on it too."  
  
Everyone was silent for a moment as they all secretly lamented Fidget and her state of being.  
  
"We really ought to go visit her," Lei said. "See how she's improving."  
  
The others all agreed, everyone except Twitch, who was still silent as her stared down at the glossy tiles beneath his feet.  
  
* * *  
  
The stony walk was cold beneath her bare feet as she tiptoed through the rushes and ferns, completely silent in this peaceful serenity. On either side of her carved path there rose up beautiful white trilliums, all so poised in their solitude, and nettles, their leaves lush and attempting. Above her head rose a twisted canopy of battered trees: a medley of cedars, firs, and maples, all warped and interlaced with Russian Willows and Cyprus trees. She loved running her fingers over the scared bark of each tree she passed, twining her fingers into the lichen and Methuselah's beard, feeling every miniscule rope, every natural strand beneath her fingertips.  
  
"Come on Allie! Let's get this over with!"  
  
Allie looked up from her toes sinking into the soft earth at her older sister's abrupt voice. It had been so peaceful, so unreal and perfect, and yet Catrina always had to ruin everything. So Allie left her spot within the grove of ferns and tiptoed silently down to the lily pond.  
  
The sight was glorious: a huge pond fenced in by thousands of trees and drowned in lily pad upon lily pad, sprouting pearly white petals that glimmered across the water's surface. The pond was merely a trench where flood waters gathered when the river over flowed to the naked eye, but if you stood on it's bank in the midst of it's clearing and look-out point, and watched very carefully you could see that the pond was erupt with life. Frogs and salamanders were always diving down beneath the murk in their little taunts of hide-and-seek and fish and tadpoles were always almost completely hidden within the shadows of the forest's debris, deposited into the pond by the ever abundant woods. If you were lucky you'd be able to spot a turtle or great blue heron nesting off to the length of the pond and sometimes a muskrat or two could be caught, skirting the dark pool in search of their daily rations. Swallows and other songbirds were ever present, either zooming above the pleasant scene during their hunt for mosquitoes and dragonflies or perched high in a tree branch, calling out and making the scene all the more relaxing.  
  
Allie loved it here. She loved the way the breeze pirouetted through her thick hair and she loved the way the canopy above dappled her skin in shadows, delivering her from the sweet smelling sunlight and sending shivers up her spine. It was the first time she'd ever been to the sight but already she knew where she wanted to go for her next family vacation.  
  
"Allie! Will you get your butt over here so day can take the picture and I can go back to the car?" It was Catrina again, standing beside the water's edge with her arms folded and her teeth clenched. She too had thick, sandy blonde hair that cascaded down to her waste, but she always preferred to keep it down rather then fold it into plaits like Allie.  
  
"Alright! Alright!" Allie grumbled, leaving the delicate pose on the balls of her feet and crashing down to the bank where her sister and mother stood waiting.  
  
"Finally!" Catrina heaved, rolling her eyes and turning to face her father and his camera.  
  
Allie stepped onto the thickened slush beside her sister and stared up at the girls freckled face, her green eyes squinting in the sunlight and her brow furrowed due to the effects of being an ornery teenager. Boy what Allie wished she could do to get rid of the girl and her sarcasm? But at a moment like this, in the middle of so much amazing beauty and prosperous growth, Allie couldn't help but think about how much she loved the sixteen- year-old, even if she was an annoying bum.  
  
"Ready?" Allie's father asked as he adjusted the camera.  
  
Allie's hands flew up to her braids and she began fidgeting with them like mad as she smiled for the photograph.  
  
"Would you stop doing that you freak?" Catrina said behind her phony grin.  
  
Allie tried to put her hands at her sides and keep them still, but soon she was playing uncontrollably with her belt loops. Not even a place as quiet and simple could still her obsessive need to move, no matter how determined Allie was to keep her sister on good terms with her.  
  
"Smile," her father said before the camera flashed, disrupting all the simplicity and making Allie go temporarily blind.  
  
The heart monitor's signal began to erupt in alarm, sounding that Fidget was going into shock and her heart was stopping. As soon as this happened, the Intensive Care doctors raced into the room and the nurses ushered D- tent out before closing the thick, curtained door behind them.  
  
As the members of D-tent stood there in the middle of the white hall, bewildered and shocked, a single tear ran down Twitch's face.  
  
Soon it would be over. 


	54. Lost Can Always Be Found

The intern was shocked to see such a magnitude of grave looking teenagers, all sitting solemnly at the foot of the hall, as she pushed a cart full of her patient rations past them. For that's how D-tent appeared to almost everyone in the Intensive Care ward: stone cold youths all staring silently at the shiny tiles beneath them, not a nerve in their bodies even feeling willing enough to twitch. Magnet and Magnetic had joined the assemblage some hours before, and both sat separately due to the unannounced events of that evening. According to Magnetic, Magnet had broken into her room and had tried to harass her about how she was so rude as to not love him. Magnet, however, begged to differ, saying that when he woke up from his afternoon rest, he'd found Magnetic all cuddled up beside him. No-one knew the real story yet at the moment, no-one had the heart to find out.  
  
X-ray had also dared to venture up to the Intensive Care hall, with news that Rogue was still being treated for second degree starvation, and now sat forlorn against the wall. Apparently, Rogue was doing well but was now recovering from the lack of oxygen to her lungs. According to X-ray, the nurse had informed him that Rogue had gone into shock as soon as the doctors had tried to cart her away on the night of their arrival.  
  
But at least her state seemed to be fairing better then that of D-tent, all of whom had been laying about the hall in silence for about eight hours now without a word of consent or reassurance from anyone. The only thing anyone in the ward would give them was a pitiful stare as they hurried past, leaving the quiet teens in a manner of near-furry. It made some of them sick to see such people rush past without any real care at all as they did their job of giving people phony looks of concern. Why wouldn't they just stay the hell away if they weren't going to embrace the members of D-tent, smile down at them, and tell them everything was going to be okay? Of what use were they to anyone in the entire freaking hospital if they didn't even care? Wasn't it part of their jobs to at least shed one tear?  
  
The door to room 644 opened slowly as it had many times that evening, taunting the members of D-tent into false excitement every time. A young man peeling blue, plastic gloves off his hands, stepped out and paused at the site of D-tent.  
  
"Are you the friends of Allie's?" he asked, addressing them politely.  
  
They nodded in a robotic fashion, to grave to make the muscles in their necks work properly.  
  
"Well," the young man continued. "We've finished the operation."  
  
"Is she okay?" Twitch croaked, speaking for the first time since he'd stated what medication they had Fidget on, hours before.  
  
"Well her level of cardiac stress exceeded her respiratory systems strength and she did experience an increased heart rate for a moment there, but we were able to reduce the pressure caused to her lungs."  
  
Twitch slowly cocked his head to one side as he tried to comprehend what the doctor had just said.  
  
"We were able to save her," the young man completed at the sight of D- tent's confusion. "She's going to be all right."  
  
Nobody moved at the doctor's last words, but they all sat silently in cerebration as they began to understand what was going on.  
  
"Can we see her?" Lei asked urgently, her eyes nearly bulging out of her face.  
  
"I'm afraid not," the doctor replied solemnly. "After an operation like that, she'll need lots of rest. You can visit her later. But now, I think you should all return to your own rooms and get some sleep. It's already six o'clock in the morning and you've been here all night. Janet here will escort you all back to your floors."  
  
D-tent filed out of the Intensive Care ward behind a curly-haired woman wearing a stethoscope about her neck. It wasn't until they were all settled back into their individual rooms that they all exhaled their long awaiting breaths.  
  
* * *  
  
"How are the guys all doing?"  
  
"They're doing great. They nearly had heart attacks a couple days ago when your heart stopped working right but they're all fine now."  
  
"We should invite them up sometime. I've been told they came to visit me yesterday but I must have been asleep or something cause I really don't remember."  
  
Fidget's voice was frail behind the respiratory mask she had to wear, and it was constantly interrupted by the rigid sound of her irregular breaths, but to the girls of D-tent, she looked better then she had in months.  
  
It had been two days since the night they'd nearly lost their dear friend and since then they'd visited her twice, both times being almost pointless as Fidget hadn't opened her eyes once the entire time. But now, on the third day of her recovery, the D-tent girls had crept into her room to find her wide awake and restless, and now they all sat sprawled on her bed or kneeling on the floor.  
  
"How's Twitch?" Fidget asked wearily. "Did he have to be given medicine?"  
  
Static, who was laying beside Fidget on the bed, Fidget's hand in hers, nodded. "But not as much as you."  
  
"Ooh, I can't wait to show him my stitches!" Fidget said, smiling meekly. "They had to cut into me with these little knives and now I have scars all across my ribcage. Isn't that cool?"  
  
Lei giggled. "We definitely got our ol' Fidget back," she said, stroking Fidget's hair.  
  
Fidget grinned. "Well what'd you expect?" she asked nodding. "An ugly girl with a beard?" She shifted in her bed so that she was propped back against her pillows and could see everyone more easily. "So what else happened while I was stuck in this crap house? Anything exciting?" she smiled.  
  
"Well, Twitch told us about how he had to sleep in the same room as some guy with yellow skin," Zippy announced.  
  
"I wanna see someone with hot pink skin," Fidget said thoughtfully. "That would be SO cool!"  
  
"And Magnet found Magnetic sleeping in his bed!" Zippy chortled.  
  
"WHAT?" Magnetic cried. "Don't tell me you believe that slime ball!?" Then she turned to Fidget and said softly, "Don't believe them: they've been having crazed hallucinations over the past few days."  
  
"I'll bet they have," Fidget said, nodding her head.  
  
"I met this little boy named Tober," Chase said. "You have to come down and meet him sometime Fidget, you'd LOVE him!"  
  
"I didn't do nothin' but pray for you, Fidget," Rogue said softly. She'd been released the day before and she still didn't seem quite steady on her feet. Whenever she walked or talked she was always really slow, but on the day when she'd been released she'd been showered with hugs and kisses from her friends—including X-ray!  
  
Fidget smiled. "So, how's Zigzag?" she asked.  
  
"Well Zigzag tried burning down the front lobby the other day before they took his lighter away," Static said. "He was pretty upset about that but he seemed to enjoy talking to some of the patients who had first degree burns—under the close surveillance of a police officer."  
  
Fidget laughed. "Awe, I missed Zigzag: he always made me laugh. So what about Squid?" she pondered, winking at Chase.  
  
Chase shrugged her shoulders. "He seems fine," she replied. "We haven't talked much: he looks really tired these days."  
  
"Awe poor Squid!" Zippy cried dramatically. "You should go love your lover Chase!"  
  
"Shut up," Chase said, blushing.  
  
"Well at least I still love MY man!" Zippy stated proudly. "We ate breakfast together yesterday and we talked A LOT! Even though the hospital food tasted like shit and it stuck to the roof of my mouth for the rest of the day, I'd have to say that that was one of the BEST breakfasts I've had in a LONG time!" Zippy gave a final sharp bow of her head before she curled up at the foot of Fidget's bed again, her face buried behind her knees.  
  
"Well alright then," Magnetic said a little awkwardly as everyone stared wide-eyed at Zippy.  
  
Lei sighed. "I'm so happy you're with us again Fidget. I'll be able to sleep easier now," she said.  
  
"'Lost' is not a term defined by 'forever'," Rogue said.  
  
"What was that?" Chase asked. "It was beautiful."  
  
Rogue shrugged her shoulders. "Just something I heard in a poem a long time ago."  
  
"Well amen to that," Fidget said sleepily. "Even though I don't know what it means."  
  
Static smiled. "That's okay," she said softly. "You just sleep now. You've had a rough time and you need all the rest you can get. We'll leave this hospital soon enough. You'll see."  
  
Fidget was still smiling when her eyes closed and her breath became heavy.  
  
* * *  
  
"Alan?" the female doctor asked, stepping inside Squid's room.  
  
"Yeah?" Squid replied. He was laying in his bed staring up at the ceiling as he'd done everyday at this time in the afternoon.  
  
"A few days ago when you children first arrived here, we were questioning your friend Brian," she said, taking a step towards Squid's bed. "He was in such a state of hysterics that day that we were worried we wouldn't get a straight answer out of him but he mentioned that you all had come from a juvenile delinquent facility in northern Texas called Camp Green Lake. Is that right?"  
  
Squid stopped trying to count the tiles on the ceiling and his mouth began to feel dry.  
  
When he failed to answer the doctor's question, she continued. "Well we called that facility to verify what Brian told us and they agreed that you did belong there. Now I don't know the whole story but the Warden of your camp said that you all needed to be returned safely to camp and they'll be coming down here to pick you up tomorrow. Alright?"  
  
After waiting a few more seconds for Squid to answer, the doctor retired and turned to leave his room, closing the door behind her.  
  
* * *  
  
"How is your friend?" Tober asked.  
  
Chase was kneeling at the side of his bed, stroking his sandy colored hair back from his forehead as he gave her his usual interview of the day.  
  
"She's doing really, really good," Chase said quietly. "She can talk and everything now!"  
  
"That's good," Tober said, a little distractedly. "My mommy saw me yesterday."  
  
"Really?" Chase said with an animated excitement. "What'd she say?"  
  
"She said that, that I can leave here soon," Tober replied, nodding his head happily. "She also said that I can see me friends again."  
  
"That's wonderful Tober!" Chase cried happily.  
  
"Won't you miss me though?" Tober asked, pouting.  
  
"Awe," Chase cried, wrapping her arms around the little boy's shoulders and hugging him tightly. "I'll miss you every single day!" she said. "Will you miss me?"  
  
Tober nodded sleepily before yawning widely. "Mmmmhuh," he said, smiling.  
  
Chase stood up and tucked him beneath his covers before kissing his forehead. "Goodnight," she whispered.  
  
Tober was all ready fast asleep.  
  
The next second, Tober was struck awake by the door to their room being thrown open and Squid storming in.  
  
"Squid! What the heck are you doing?" Chase cried as Squid hurried towards her. "Tober was trying to-"  
  
Squid grabbed her and stifled her yells with his hand placed firmly over her mouth.  
  
"Shh!" he hushed. "We've got to get out of here. People from camp, they're gonna be here tomorrow to take us back there," he whispered quickly.  
  
"What?" Chase asked, her voice muffled by Squid's grasp.  
  
"We have to leave," Squid repeated. Slowly, he let his hand fall away from Chase's face. "Do you understand?" he asked her.  
  
She nodded slowly.  
  
"Okay, good," Squid said. Turning, he grabbed a plastic bag that he'd brought along. "Here," he said, tossing Chase one of the white lab coats that the doctors were always wearing. "Put this on. I got it out of the staff room. You know where everyone's rooms are?"  
  
Chase nodded again.  
  
"Good. Go to all their rooms and tell them to go up to room 301 on the second floor. "That's the only room with a window that's closest to the ground. I'm gonna go get Fidget and take her up there where I'll tell you all what to do next. Got that?"  
  
Chase looked down at the white coat in her hands that she was to wear as she stole everyone from their beds and told them to go to room 301 on the second floor.  
  
"Did you get that?" Squid asked again.  
  
"Yes," Chase said slowly.  
  
"Alright, I'll meet you in room 301," Squid said before turning and hurrying from her room.  
  
"Do you have to go now?" Tober asked, startling Chase as she'd forgotten he was even there behind her.  
  
Chase turned and looked sorely at the little boy that she'd grown to love. "I guess so," she said sadly.  
  
"I'll miss you," Tober said.  
  
"I'll miss you too," Chase said as she stepped out the door and turned to blow Tober a kiss.  
  
"I love you," Tober said, just as Chase was about to close the door behind her.  
  
"I love you too Tober," Chase said, taking one last look at the little boy before closing the door and turning to follow through with Squid's plan. "Bye, bye," she whispered.  
  
Chase walked quickly down the halls, feeling that at any moment someone would grab her and cry, "You're not a doctor! How'd you get this coat?" She nodded shortly to the different nurses and doctors she passed along the way, but mostly she tried to be as invisible as she could possibly make herself . At last she found herself before a recognizable door and stepped quickly inside.  
  
Zigzag tumbled off the side of Static's bed when Chase entered, both of them looking like a deer caught in the headlights at Chase's arrival.  
  
"I swear doctor!" Zigzag cried. "We were just talking!"  
  
"I don't care what you were doing!" Chase cried. "We've just gotta get out of here!"  
  
"You're a gracious doctor," Zigzag said, scratching the side of his head. "And you look kind'a young to be a doctor too."  
  
"You moron," Static cried. "It's Chase in a lab coat."  
  
Zigzag looked dumbfounded.  
  
"Yeah, whatever," Chase said. "Anyway, we've got to leave the hospital. Squid heard that the Warden knew about us being here and she sent people to pick us up tomorrow and he's devised this whole plan for us to escape. We have to go to room 301 on the second floor—that's where Squid'll be waiting for us. Will you two help me tell everyone to get up there as soon as possible?"  
  
Static nodded. "Of coarse," she said.  
  
"Wait a second," Zigzag said. "So you're really just Chase in a doctor suit and you won't get us in trouble for making out in here?"  
  
Chase nearly punched herself in the face.  
  
After slowly informing Zigzag of the situation a couple more times, the three split up to go recruit the other D-tent members. Chase hurried down the hall towards Zero's room which was only a corridor away from Static's, when she was just about there.  
  
"Hey you!"  
  
Chase's heart began to pound in her chest as she quickened her pace, hoping the man hadn't been addressing her.  
  
"Hey you!" he called again. "Excuse me!"  
  
Zero's room was just around the corner-  
  
Chase's arm was grabbed from behind and she was stopped short in her tracks.  
  
"Excuse me," a short, balding man asked, irritated. "I just wanted to ask you where the cafeteria was!"  
  
"Oh-erm-that way," Chase said, pointing off down the hall.  
  
"Thanks," the man said before turning away and hurrying off down the hall muttering himself, "Those damn interns: always so jittery!"  
  
"That was close," Chase sighed under her breath before she turned the corner and hurried into Zero's room.  
  
"Hurry up!" she cried a few minutes later, dragging Zero from his bed. "We have to leave!"  
  
"I am so confused right now," Zero cried as Chase whisked down the hall and up a flight of stairs.  
  
"We have to get to room 301," Chase said in his ear as they past a group of nurses. As soon as they had turned another corner and were out of the nurse's sight, Chase took up at a run again.  
  
"There it is!" Zero said pointing to a door at the end of the hall with the faint numbers 301 plastered to the front of it. "Now will you tell me what is going on here?"  
  
Chase burst into the room with Zero on her heels to find Magnetic, Lei, Static, Rogue, Zippy, and Fidget hung limply in Squid's arms, all waiting for them.  
  
"Where's everybody else?" Chase asked.  
  
Static shrugged. "Zigzag was supposed to get them," she said.  
  
About five minutes later Magnet, Twitch, X-ray, Armpit and Zigzag all came lumbering into the room.  
  
"Hey wait a second," Armpit cried, staring about the room in utter confusion. "I thought you said there'd be free doughnuts in here Zigzag?"  
  
Zigzag smiled maliciously.  
  
"Okay," Squid said. "You all know why you're here right?"  
  
"No," Armpit replied grumpily.  
  
"The Warden knows we're here," Zippy explained shortly.  
  
"Oh," Armpit said.  
  
"But why'd we have to come all the way up to this particular room?" Magnetic asked. "Aren't their plenty of other rooms with windows?"  
  
"No," Squid said. "Not in the sick ward anyway. This is the pregnancy ward."  
  
"Really?" Magnet asked excitedly.  
  
Rogue stared at him in disgust. "Ewe," she said.  
  
"Okay," Squid continued. "Now we have to leave quickly and efficiently. We're gonna climb out this window here and then steal a car from the parking lot down there. Understood?"  
  
Everyone agreed.  
  
"Alright, hold Fidget and I'll climb down first," Squid said, handing Fidget to Zigzag and sliding out the open window, down into the night.  
  
The rest of D-tent waited with baited breaths as they listened closely to Squid's procession down the rain spout until finally, they heard a soft thud as he jumped down onto the ground.  
  
"Is it safe?" Static called as discreetly as she could.  
  
"Yeah," Squid called back. "Come on down."  
  
Static had been about to turn and slide through the window just as Squid had when all of a sudden, all of D-tent heard a loud, unrecognizable voice from down below call out:  
  
"FREEZE! Put your hands up where I can see them!" 


	55. Static's Tricky Impulse

"Well, I never thought I'd see myself locked behind bars at the age of fourteen... Wonder what my parents would say? They'd probably freak—my mom would probably faint, actually... Hmm, that'd be funny."

Zero beamed up at Zippy from where his head rested upon her lap as he listened to her talk. They had already been locked up in a jail cell for juveniles for nearly six hours and yet to Zero, snuggled up with a pretty girl on a cold, hard bench, it had only seemed like a few minutes.

"They'd look at me in these filthy clothes, sitting around with a bunch of sulking bums here in this cell and they would truly believe that I wasn't their daughter," Zippy sighed. "They wouldn't even find me remotely recognizable."

"Yeah right," Zero said. "They're your parents: they love you and they would definitely recognize you. Besides," he added, stroking her bangs away from her face. "You've got the same cute nose, the same quirky smile, and the same gorgeous eyes. Your parents would know you in a heart beat."

Zippy blushed as Zero's finger outlined the curve of her cheek.

"You're lucky to have them," Zero said, sitting up abruptly and hunching his shoulders as he stared down at the cracks in the cement beneath them.

It was almost as if Zippy could see a wave of depression wash over Zero as he sat: in a few seconds his expression had gone from immovable love to desperate anguish and she could tell that he was thinking about his lost mother.

There was nothing Zippy could think to say to comfort Zero, so instead she just wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rested her head against his chest, his breath becoming calmer with each second that they sat like that.

"Urg! I can't believe this! We got so far! We did so much! And now-and now it's over?" Static retired from her pacing and dropped to her knees with a sigh of exhaustion. "I officially hate cops."

Ever since all of D-tent had been caught hours earlier, sneaking out of the hospital window, Static had been frantically pacing around and talking at an exuberant speed. It was as if the insanity that had been locked inside of her ever since that day when Jasmine Applewhite had been rewarded the part in the school play was finally getting the better of her.

"It's okay Static," Lei said, kneeling down beside her and wrapping her arms around her in a tight embrace. "This was bound to happen sometime."

"No. No! It wasn't supposed to happen!" Static cried, breaking free from Lei's arms and jumping back to her feet, staring wildly about at all her friends, just laying around the cell in defeat. "We were gonna get home! We had to get home! I mean, just look at what we all did! We climbed a HUGE mountain! We faced scorching weather! We got cheated by a bus driver; we got split up more then once; and many of us nearly died! And for what? NOTHING! Nothing because we're giving up! _Nothing _because we're going to let the government walk all over us and stomp us into the ground! I mean, did...did it not mean anything to any of you? Was this whole adventure pointless to you as well?"

No one answered Static immediately and she stood there in the middle of the cell, limp as if her weariness were dragging her towards the ground.

"I'm tired," Magnetic replied slowly. "We're all tired. We had an unforgettable time, yes, but now we need to rest. Wouldn't you like to rest Static?"

Static stood there a moment longer, feeling in some ways betrayed and sick, before she plopped down to the corner of the cell and rested her forehead against the steel bars that served as their cage.

"You've got to understand Static," Lei said, still sitting where Static had left her. "They've contacted our parents. At least now we know for sure that we are going to get home in the end... Well, as soon as we serve time for breaking out of Camp Green Lake... It'll be okay."

But Static wasn't listening as she was much more occupied with an electrical outlet that she had just found on the wall just outside of the steel bars.

Zigzag, who'd been watching her closely during her outburst of frustration, narrowed his eyes. "What are you planning on doing?" he asked slyly, sounding like a parent detecting their child's sneaky intentions.

Static didn't answer immediately, instead she was intently lining the outlet with her eyes, taking in every edge and curve as she thought hard about what she was about to do.

"Don't try to stop me," she said quietly, turning back to look at the other members of D-tent who were all watching her curiously now.

"What are you doing?" Zigzag asked again, now sounding nervous as he began to crawl towards her.

Static reached one of her arms through the large spaces in between the cell walls and began removing the outlet screws with her fingernail.

"Static?" Chase said wearily, watching Static with wide eyes now as Static stuck her finger in her mouth to get it wet.

"You guys just run," Static said, sounding completely confident yet incredibly insane at the same time. "Run hard." Then she smiled, "You're good at that Chase."

"NO!!!" about thirteen D-tent members screamed at the same time, all plunging towards Static to try and stop her as she plunged her finger into the exposed electrical wires. As Static had planned, the shock set off sparks which triggered the fire alarm and the sprinklers over their heads. Soon, the jail ward was filled with a cacophony of shrieks from the D-tent members, the loud sirens of the fire alarm, and the heavy downpour from the ceiling sprinklers.

"STATIC!" Lei shrieked, diving for her friend's electrocuted body, which lay, still and fried in a steadily growing puddle.

"What in the hell is goin' on here?" A sheriff yelled furiously, hurrying into the ward and brandishing his gun about like a mad man.

Soon after him a couple of other jail guards raced into the flooded ward yelling, "We've got to get everyone out of here! It's a fire!"

The cell bars were unlocked and pulled open and the next thing they knew, the D-tent members were being yanked out of the cell and pushed down the ward toward the exits.

"This one's injured!" one of the jail guards called, picking up Static and carrying her after the other D-tent members until they were all running out into the hot, Texas sunshine.

"Come on Chase!" Squid said, following Static's instructions and racing towards a police car that was parked on the side of the building. "Come on Zigzag!"

"Static..." Zigzag mouthed, starting to run back towards the jail and the guard who was still carrying Static.

"Zigzag!" Squid yelled, running after him.

The rest of the D-tent members, in a very confused manner, ran towards the police car rather reluctantly, pausing now and then to watch Zigzag and what was happening with Static.

"Get in the car!" X-ray called, deciding to take command for once. "Come on guys!"

"But what about Static?" Zippy asked, stopping mid-sprint to squint back at Zigzag getting closer and closer to the jail guard and Static. Before Zigzag even reached Static however, a very unexpected thing happened. As the D-tent members watched in disbelief, Static opened her eyes, punched the jail guard in the face, jumped from his arms as he staggered back in surprise, and raced towards them, smiling gleefully at Zigzag along the way.

"Wow!" Twitch cried, jumping with excitement before hopping into the driver's seat of the car.

"I guess she really _is_ a good actress!" Zero laughed, turning to run towards the car once more.

Zigzag couldn't stop staring wide eyed at Static as they both ran for the car, following Squid and speeding up when Twitch started the engine. Even when they dived into the cramped back seat along with half of the other D-tent members he seemed lost for words and Static couldn't help beaming at him.

"I _love_ you!" he finally gasped, his eyes still wide with shock.

Static laughed before kissing Zigzag hard on the lips, just as Twitch put the car into reverse and backed away from the jail building.

"WHAT THE HELL?" the jail sheriff screamed, suddenly realizing that someone was stealing his car. He chased after the little black and white police car for a while before remembering his gun and aiming for the car's tires.

Twitch, being the experienced vehicle thief that he was, veered and swerved with each shot the sheriff took, sending everyone in the car on an incredibly painful and stuffy ride. But it paid off as no bullet ever hit the car.

"I'LL SEE YA'LL IN HELL!" Magnetic screamed back at the amused prisoners, all cheering D-tent on as they made their own escapes.

"What was that for?" Lei laughed, staring back at Magnetic from the front seat as her long dark hair whipped about in the wind.

"I think I left an impression on some of them," Magnetic said winking.

Magnet looked thoroughly disgruntled as he raised his eyebrow at Magnetic's suave smile.

"Are you alright?" Chase cried, unable to hold back a grin as she stared in amazement at Static's fried hair and her blackened clothes.

"'Coarse I am!" Static exclaimed. "I've done that a thousand times!"

"I _love_ you!" Zigzag said breathlessly, expecting another kiss.

And considering the exciting circumstances, that's exactly what Zigzag got.


	56. The Dramatic Journey Behind Them And The...

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Xylem, the way Zero acts is just the effect Zippy has on people...

Hello everyone! I know I've never written an author's note before a chapter before but seeing as this is the Fifty-Fifth chapter (my favorite number written twice!) and seeing as you all are so helpful about giving me feedback on this story, I thought I might as well say hello. Thank you all SOOOOOOOOOO much for continuously replying to my story and telling me what you think of it. No matter how corny it sounds, I really do appreciate it. Also, I'm sorry it takes me such a long time to update new chapters, I'm just always really busy lately and I hardly ever have time to write. Finally, if anyone has any suggestions for my story or questions or anything please don't hesitate to ask, I'd be glad to hear what you have to say. Thanks again and I'm sorry I've wasted your time by writing this author's note but hey, it's good to try everything at least once. I'll try to update again soon! I hope you like this chapter!

Munkymuppet

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**Chapter Fifty-Five**

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The air may have been stuffy and hot but sitting in the little police car with the air conditioning on full blast made the fact that all the D-tent members were squashed together, and rather cramped, bearable.

"Will you change the station?" Magnetic moaned for the third time in the last couple of minutes. "I can't stand this stupid rap-rock crap! It's giving me a headache!"

"No," Twitch replied, he was still at the wheel and was rather enjoying the radio station they had been listening to since they had all gotten into the car. "If I change it all we'll get is static."

"Yeah right!" Magnetic retorted. "What about that channel you skipped earlier, before you found this one? It actually had cool music!"

"Yeah, I don't really like this station either," Lei said, reaching for the radio dial and changing the channel.

"NO!" Twitch, Squid, Static, and Chase cried as the radio speaker started blaring out sounds of static mumbo-jumbo.

"It took me a long time to find that station too," Twitch pouted, glancing over at Lei just long enough to give her the 'evil eye'.

"This gives me more of a headache then Linkin Park did," Chase grumbled, covering her ears to try and drown out the annoying fuzz still echoing about the car as Lei frantically tried to find a new station.

"There we go!" Lei said triumphantly, finally finding a station that played music by Jennifer Lopez, Brittany Spears, Jessica Simpson and other pop idols that sang the complete opposite of what D-tent had just been listening to.

"Awe!" All the D-tent guys grumbled, Squid folding his arms and looking crossly out the window and Armpit looking as if he could die.

"Why can't we listen to the oldies channel?" Zippy asked hopefully, propping herself up onto her knees so that she could prod Lei in the back of the head.

Everyone turned to glare at her except Zero, who couldn't help but laugh.

"What?" Zippy asked. "I _LOVE_ the old people!"

This seemed to finalize it and no one said anything as they turned to look anywhere but at Zippy who found it all to be quite flattering.

"I just wanna sleep," Fidget said tierdly, her voice as dry as it had been before they had found aid at the hospital. "I just wanna sleep," she repeated, letting her head loll back against the seat, her eyes closed and her breath became thick.

Everyone was quiet except for the voices exuding from the radio speakers at the front of the car. Chase, thinking Fidget had the right idea, rested her head back on Squid's warm shoulder and allowed herself to close her eyes, slowly drifting off into the deepest sleep she had endured since the night before she'd hit the little boy on the hillside with her mother's car. Back before she had been given her sentence in court, in the presence of a judge who had looked down upon her as if she was the ugliest most vile creature they'd ever seen. Back before she'd entered Camp Lakeway, scared and alone. Back before she'd met Zippy and Fidget, Static, Rogue, Magnetic and Lei. Back before she, and all her fellow female juvenile deliquents had been moved hundreds of miles to Camp Green Lake after Camp Lakeway's warden had suddenly died. Long back before she'd ever even laid eyes on Squid or any of the other Green Lake boys. And back before this tremulous journey had even begun.

Squid looked down upon her emotionless face and smiled: It was the first time he'd seen her like this in all the time that he'd known her.

"You know what?" X-ray asked to no one in particular from where he sat in the back seat, squashed between Rogue and the window. "If I were at home right now, I can honestly tell you that I wouldn't be having as much fun as I've had during this trip."

Static smiled thoughtfully. "I agree with you X-ray," she said slowly. "All this time all I've been thinking about is getting home. But I've never done anything at home as exciting as everything we've encountered so far."

"Yeah, right," Magnetic grumbled. "Hot weather, sweaty orange jump suits, and near-death experiences. I can't _wait_ to do all that again."

"Oh, you know what she means you big poop-head!" Zippy cried, she had now migrated from the cramped back seats to the floor in front of them and was sitting on top of Static's feet. "Like that water fight we had on the bus that one time! That was lot's of fun!"

"Hey! I remember that!" Twitch whooped from the driver's seat. "Everyone was soaked! And you could see through all the girl's white shirts!"

"WHAT?" several people cried at once: the girl's outbursts due to their anger and shock and Zigzag's outburst due to the fact that he (sadly) hadn't noticed anything.

"And the time in the hotel when we got to mess around in the little restaurant downstairs!" Zippy said, who was so flat-chested that she seemed undisturbed by Twitch's statement opposed to some of the more matured girl's who were still glaring at him in disgust.

"And we snuck wine back up to the room," Magnetic said with a snobbish air, portraying someone of a higher class. "Yeah, that was pretty fun."

"And that night in the cornfield," Zero added. "When we had the fireworks."

"Oh God, that was one of the scariest nights!" Static cried. "With everyone jumping out at us and Magnetic screaming 'Bloody murder' every now and then."

"Yeah, but you found us in the end," Zigzag said, smiling ruefully.

"Oh don't even let me get started on you," Static said, rounding onto Zigzag like a mad hornet. "You were the leader of that whole operation and you were the one who pulled my pants down!"

Magnet abruptly snorted. "I forgot about that!" he laughed. "That one was good, man," he said in praise to Zigzag.

"I know!" Zigzag laughed before he was scared into silence by Static's mean glare.

"And remember WAY back," Lei said, turning around in the front seat so she could address all the girls. "That night under God's Thumb when we drank the last of the Sploosh?"

"Yeah!" Zippy cried excitedly. "Fidget drew on our faces and you did our hair!"

"What?" Squid asked, looking to his fellow male friends for help, all of whom seemed just as confused.

"Oh you wouldn't get it," Magnetic said airily, glad to know about something the guys didn't.

"Well I remember the day I got to see you naked in a shower chica," Magnet said, even prouder then Magnetic.

Magnetic's know-it-all expression dissolved in an instant and she was left with a face as red as a tomato. "I thought I told you never EVER to mention that again!" she growled between clenched teeth.

"Oh so you two have been having _conversations_ in private then," Armpit laughed.

"Ooh!" Lei squealed, grinning uncontrollably.

"No! Of coarse not!" Magnetic cried, her face going from dark red to pale green. "Why would I do something stupid like-"

"Well _I _remember the time we all ate Orgasmic ice cream!" Zippy said, her eyes glazing over as if she were remembering something amazing.

No one said anything but rather stared at Zippy in absolute horror, all thinking the same thing: _Orgasmic ice cream? _

They all concluded that it was just Zippy's _wild_ imagination running away with her again.

"Remember when we finally reached the top of God's thumb?" Lei asked.

"Yeah," Rogue said with a grin. "And how surprised and upset we were when the boys reached the top of it as well."

"Yeah, that was pretty unexpected," Lei agreed.

"But I'm glad you guys decided to climb that stupid mountain," Static said, running her fingers through Zigzag's hair. "Who knows where we'd be now if you hadn't."

"You'd probably be at home," Armpit said frankly. "Clean, fed, and happy. We _have_ caused a lot of trouble for you guys."

"Like what?" Lei asked, looking confused.

"Like that bench," Squid said in remorse. "I was the one who had the stupid idea to waste time and see how many people it took to break the bench. If it hadn't been for me and my dumb idea we would have got to the bus station a lot earlier and we probably would've caught a different bus with a nicer bus driver."

"Oh don't blame yourself for that!" Static chastised as if it were one of the silliest things she'd ever heard. "That whole bench-breaking experience was one of the best things to have happened to us in days. We all needed a laugh, and thanks to your idea that's exactly what we got."

"Yeah," Squid said, sounding somewhat like a mournful child. "But still..."

"Come on man, that wasn't that bad," X-ray said. "At least your suggestion didn't put anyone at risk like my stupid idea."

"What are you goin' on about now?" Zigzag asked, staring from Squid to X-ray in confusion.

"Remember back a long time ago," X-ray replied, "back when Zippy fell off that mountain?"

"I remember that!" Zippy cried excitedly as if it were the best memory she had, even better then the time she and the others supposedly ate Orgasmic ice cream. "But that wasn't your fault at all," she continued. "That was my fault: I was the one who just _had_ to climb down that mountain as fast as I could." She paused, then said suddenly, "Oh, and it was partially Chase's fault for being such a slowpoke. But I've forgiven her," she patted Chase reassuringly on the knee to no response as Chase was still fast asleep.

"No, it was my fault," X-ray said, looking nervous. "I was the one who gave the go-ahead for everyone to start climbing down that particular side of the mountain, remember? Chase had asked us something about whether or not we should climb down from there and I'm the one who said yes. I didn't even consider anything! I just said, 'Go right ahead'."

"Any of us would have said yes to Chase's question," Lei replied. "It's not your fault at all."

"Yeah," Zero added. "There was no other way to climb down anyway."

"Yeah!" Zippy mimicked. "Besides, just look at me now! I'm perfectly fine except for my disfigured face and my pulsating bottom. But the way I figure it those are just a few more attributes that are going to make me money. Look out Hollywood and Ripley's Believe It Or Not, here I come!"

"Yeah, you really shouldn't beat yourself up about it X-ray," Static said. "Zippy enjoys the absurd attention," she added nodding towards Zippy who was now performing the chicken dance at a sitting position.

"You guys, excluding you, Magnet," Magnetic began, glaring at Magnet, "haven't really done anything bad that seriously slowed us down. I mean, it was Chase who pointed out that way down the mountain, wasn't it?"

Static turned briskly to glare at Magnetic. "Don't start that grudge again," she warned.

"I'm not starting any _grudge_ again," Magnetic retorted. "I never had any grudge against her anyway! I'm just saying, she was the one who showed all of us that way down the mountain. Maybe if she hadn't said anything and we had kept looking around we might've found a safer way down."

"What are you suggesting we would have found a golden staircase?" Static asked sarcastically. "Think about it Magnetic, chances are there probably was no safer way. Chase was just being helpful by pointing out that particular spot. If she hadn't've done so somebody else would have."

"I know, I know," Magnetic said, brushing away the suggestion with a wave of her hand. "But I'm just saying that Chase _has_ caused a lot of trouble this whole journey."

"What else do you think she did wrong then?" Zippy asked offensively, retiring from the chicken dance so that she could glare up at Magnetic with malice.

"Well, I dunno," Magnetic began, though it was obvious by her tone that she had a million things lined up to blame on Chase. "Remember that time after the bus driver stranded us in the middle of nowhere? She got all upset and stormed off."

"Yeah, so? We were all angry," Static said.

"Yeah but she just ran off and left us to stand there wondering what the hell we were supposed to do. If she hadn't got all huffy and left us there then we would've been able to hitchhike all the way to Dallas without stopping to worry about her and Squid. I mean, if it weren't for her then we would have never even left for this stupid journey at all!"

"Excuse me?" Rogue asked, taken aback. "As I recall it was you an' me who overheard Chase complainin' that night an' it was you an' me who decided to start makin' plans for an escape. Chase didn' even know nothin' about until we told her. Remember that?"

Here Magnetic stumbled for words. "Yeah... So what? If she hadn't been complaining so loudly the I would have never got the idea to escape!"

"She had a right to complain though!" Zippy cried defiantly. "That jerk that had been messing with her that night had really pissed her off when he kissed her. Remember that? Remember how she ripped his lip? I don't blame her either. I would have been mad too if a guy that ugly had been harassing me!"

"That reminds me," Squid said. "I have to kick the shit out of him if I ever see him again."

"Who was it again?" Armpit asked. "Easy?"

"Naw," Zigzag replied knowingly. "It was Spit."

"I knew I was going to have to kick his ass one day," Squid nearly growled, looking dangerous.

"His name was _Spit_?" Lei asked in disgust. "Why?"

"Cause he liked to spit a lot," Armpit explained simply. "Especially on people."

"That's gross!" Lei cried.

"Not really," Armpit said shrugging.

Lei stared at him as if he'd just offered her a plate of haggis.

"Anyway," Static said, turning her gaze back to Magnetic's shrewd expression. "Chase isn't at fault for anything except being hungry, hot, and tired-just like the rest of us-and that's all there is to it."

"Period!" Zippy concluded, grinning from ear to ear like an insane person again. It wasn't until a few silent seconds later that she burst out laughing at the mentioning of the word 'period' and frankly, the members of D-tent were surprised she hadn't exploded sooner.

"Remember that one time?" Zigzag asked suddenly, gazing out before him as if he was watching the road and horizon beyond the windshield.

"What one time?" Static asked patiently as if she was completely used to this sudden outburst of vagueness.

"You know," Zigzag explained, still distractedly gazing onward. "That one time... When I had my lighter... On the bus... And-"

"And you practically burnt my hair off?" Magnetic asked, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. "Oh yeah, I remember."

"Yeah," Zigzag said excitedly, ripping his eyes away from their trance and grinning wildly at her. "Oh, that was a great day," he said while slowly reaching into his pants' pocket and retrieving his little red and gold lighter. "Just me and my lighter..."

"I don't even know why he needs me!" Static cried exasperatedly. "All he needs is his lighter and he's perfectly happy."

Zigzag looked shocked and immediately wrapped his arms around Static's shoulders and began rocking back and forth in a demented fashion, as if it was supposed to be comforting.

"Well I don't care just as long as he doesn't start masturbating in here," Magnetic said obtrusively, eyeing Zigzag cautiously. "The way that stupid lighter turns him on is kind of scary."

"Oh God Magnetic!" Static cried as Squid, X-ray, Armpit, Twitch, Zero, Magnet _and_ Zippy burst out laughing. "I can't believe you would say that! Don't give him any ideas!"

"Yeah," Zigzag said offensively behind a big, give-away grin. "Don't give me any ideas!"

"Oh crap," Static grumbled, rolling her eyes.

"You know what I just noticed?" Lei asked, staring around at everyone with her eyebrows furrowed as if she hadn't heard a word of the previous subject. "Some of us never changed back into our jumpsuits."

And it was true, many of them were still dressed in their frail hospital smocks and pants, all of them looking like patients in a taxi to the nearest insane asylum.

"Even Chase is still wearing that doctor's coat you had her put on earlier," Lei continued.

"Hey, I wonder what she's got on under there?" Magnet said furtively, eyeing Chase's sleeping body with lustful curiosity. He was about to suggest more until he realized Squid was glaring at him, giving him one of the most dangerous warnings without even opening his mouth. And judging by the fact that Squid was tall, strong, and had been working as X-ray's "muscle", or henchman, for the past year, Magnet knew better to continue.

"But really," Lei said. "If push-comes-to-shove and somehow we find ourselves back out there in the desert how are we supposed to survive in these?" she tugged on the sheer linen smock she was wearing, looking down at it with an expression of distaste. "They're hardly thick enough to protect us from the sun."

Squid shrugged his shoulders. "I guess you guys should have got dressed like me," he said frankly.

"Oh please!" Magnetic cried. "You were the only one who even knew what was going on! The rest of us were just told that the Warden was coming and we needed to get out of there as soon as possible. What were we supposed to do? Get dressed, pack our bags, and hug the doctors goodbye?"

"Yeah man, I didn't know what the hell was goin' on!" Zigzag contributed. "I was sneakin' around with Static when this doctor came in and told us we needed to leave-"

"For the hundredth time Zigzag," Static said, now impatient. "That was Chase, not a doctor."

"Oh..." Zigzag said quietly, furrowing his brow in confusion. Then he said, "Are you sure? Cause it really looked like a doctor to me-"

"Oh my God!" Static cried before going off on a bickering rant about how Zigzag could be so clueless sometimes.

"I just thought we were gonna get doughnuts," Armpit grunted, still looking a little ticked about not getting what he wanted. "I mean, that's all Ziggy told me. He didn't tell me nothin' about gettin' all dressed and all that."

"Don't worry guys," Squid reassured them. "I'm sure it will be fine. This car won't break down anyway, right Twitch?" he called up to the driver's seat.

"That's right!" Twitch replied jovially, practically bouncing in his seat. "Not unless we run out of gas, which should be any minute now!"

Squid had not been expecting this answer, especially in the joyous form that it had been given.

"So I suppose we'd better pull off at the next exit and see if we can find a gas station, eh Twitch?" he asked, trying to keep his voice as calm and merry as Twitch's.

"Yes sir!" Twitch replied. "I reckon so." He paused, raised himself up so that he could look back in the review mirror, and then continued. "But you know what else I think we should do?" he asked, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. "I think we ought to steal a different car as I bet'ch'ya anything them cops are gonna be after us."

"Well then why don't we pull off at the next exit and see if we can find any car to steal," Squid said, staring right back at Twitch in the review mirror.

"All right," Twitch said happily, sitting back down and pressing the gas so that the car sped up and zoomed down the lonely highway.

As the car rolled on, in search of an exit to pull of at, the members of D-tent slowly drifted off to sleep, all of them thinking peacefully about the long journey behind them and the promising road ahead.


	57. Karma

I know that the last thing anyone probably wants to read right now is an author's note but here I am again with more announcements and random crap. First off I'd like to say that I'm really sorry for taking such a long time to write and post this chapter and I'm also equally sorry to say that I don't really expect the next chapter to get written and posted any faster. I do really appreciate everyone's patience though and I'll try my hardest to finish the next chapter as soon as possible. The second thing I wanted to mention was that as of December 5th I've started editing the whole Camp Lakeway story—all 217 pages of it—and uploading the newly revised chapters. So far I've only uploaded the edited versions of chapter 27 (The First and Hoped-To-Be Last Kiss)and chapter 44 (Sadness Follows) but I hope to edit and upload the rest of them soon. If you get the chance I would appreciate it if you could read chapters 27 and 44 and tell me what you think of them now that I've completely changed them. I, personally, think they're _a lot_ better then the original chapters but I would like to hear your opinions. Finally, (yes, I'm almost done!) I want to tell everyone that I recently added a summary about Magnet and a drawing of him to my Camp Lakeway website at and it would be cool if you could check it out, along with the other eight summaries and drawings I've got on there, and tell me what you think. Thank you so much and remember if you have any suggestions for any of the chapters I'm really eager to hear them. Thanks!

Munkymuppet

**Chapter Fifty-Six**

**Karma**

"What can I get for ya'?"

Twitch had just pulled into a gas station that was located conveniently beside the exit pull off the highway and was now speaking as professionally as his hyper-active state of mind would allow him to a young employee, ready to take their order.

"Fill it with regular, please," Twitch said, drumming his fingers across the steering wheel.

The gas station employee, a fair-haired boy who looked no older then eighteen, nodded in consent dully, seemingly taking no notice of how peculiar it was that he was taking orders from an obvious fifteen year old who was sitting in the driver's seat of a police car, accompanied by thirteen other people, and began to scribble Twitch's request down on a receipt.

"Is that an AM PM?" Armpit asked suddenly, staring at the little building beside the gas station, his eyes wide.

"I dunno," Twitch said, squinting through the sunlight that fell across the windshield. "I think it's a Seven-"

"I don't care what it is!" Armpit cried. "Just as long as there's food!" And with that, he threw open the car door, tumbled out into the bright, Texas sunshine, and raced for the convenience store as fast as his sore legs would carry him.

Zippy sat up straight, alert and aware, almost like a mercat, staring about excitedly. "Did he say AM PM?" she asked, staring fervently from each of the camper's tired expressions.

"I think it's a Seven-" Twitch tried again, only to be interrupted by an excited outburst once more.

"CANDY!" Zippy shrieked, hurriedly crawling over the feet of the back seat occupants and exiting through the same door Armpit had left wide open, attracting the startled attention of the gas station employee as she skipped after Armpit singing "CANDY! CANDY! CANDY!" the whole way.

"Wow," Static said, shaking her head as she climbed out of the back seat to stretch her legs. "Crazy people."

"CANDY!" Zigzag cried suddenly, not heeding Static's sarcasm as he too sprinted towards the little store.

Now the gas station employee was thoroughly confused, the gas pump hanging forgotten and limp in his hand as he watched about eight more people climb shakily out of the little police car, all of them stretching their arms and legs before heading off in the direction of the convenience store.

"Oh God," Magnetic grumbled, pulling herself out of the front seat with aching arms. "I've even got a wedgie! I can't believe this."

"You coming in Rogue?" Chase asked as she helped Twitch pull Fidget's limp body out of the back seat.

X-ray, who'd just hopped out of the car and had been preparing to dash off to the store along with the others, paused when he heard this question, lingering around, pretending to stretch himself out as he waited for Rogue's answer.

"Naw," Rogue said shortly, shrugging her shoulders as she stayed seated in the back seat.

"You sure?" Chase asked, handing Fidget off to Twitch when he reassured her that he could handle it. "You don't want anything?"

"Naw, I'm fine," Rogue replied. "You go on, I'll jus' wait here."

"Okay..." Chase said slowly, eyeing Rogue suspiciously before she turned and hurried to help Twitch, who was stumbling under Fidget's weight.

Rogue closed the car door that had been left open, not wanting the gas station employee to stare at her in bewilderment any more then he already was, and sat back in the seat, watching Fidget limp towards the store in between Twitch and Chase. She was just about to close her eyes and get some long-needed rest when she heard the front door open and someone slip inside. Wondering who could be back from the store so soon, Rogue sneaked a glance up to the passenger's seat, only to find the one person she'd been dreading staring back at her.

"Hey," X-ray said nervously, adjusting his filthy glasses on the bridge of his nose.

Rogue stared at him through half-closed eyelids for a moment before turning on her side to face the window and ignore X-ray.

But X-ray had been expecting this and rebutted her actions with a question he'd been too shy to ask her for a long time. "Why do you hate me?" he said, furrowing his brow and staring at Rogue's back intently. "I mean, come on now, what'd I ever do to you?"

Rogue glared menacingly out the widow at the eighteen-year-old boy who'd finally put the gas pump into the car's tank and was now scratching his chin in a befuddled manner. She sat there, turned away from X-ray, trying hard to think up a suitable answer to his stupid question. Why _did_ she hate him? It wasn't really a matter of what he'd done and hadn't done to her, it was more because of the fact that he existed in all of his scrawny nerd-of-a-stalker glory. Had it ever once occurred to him that she didn't appreciate the way he followed her _everywhere_ with his eyes , staring her down like a bespectacled lion watches it's prey? She slowly turned back to face him, watching his dumbfounded expression in amusement as he stared, horrorstruck, and amazed that she was actually turning back to address him.

"You wanna know why I hate you?" Rogue asked, raising her eyebrow in a bemused fashion.

X-ray nodded fervently like a child accepting an early birthday present.

Rogue smiled thoughtfully. "I hate you..." she began, choosing her words delicately. "Because you're a scrawny little nobody who's always sneakin' around me no matter what I'm doing or where I am. Not to mention the _leadership_ over D-tent that you'd like to think you own. Do you really think you're kiddin' anyone by actin' all tough an' macho? Standing at the front of the water line an' tryin' to decide all these important decisions. Come on man, you don't really believe you're all that, do you?" Rogue folded her arms and shook her head pitifully as she leaned back in the seat again. "I don' like people who pretend to be somethin' they ain't, an' you, boy, have been doin' nothin' but that since the day I met you. Does that answer your question of why I hate you?" She paused for a moment, giving X-ray enough time to take in everything she'd said.

X-ray stared at her distorted image through his grimy lenses, his mouth agape as he thought over all this new information. "So..." he said, furrowing his brow in contemplation. "If I left you alone all the time and stopped tryin' to help decide things you'd like me?"

"Well, if you left me alone all the time an' stopped tryin' to help decide things I think I would just completely forget about you," Rogue answered brutally and yet honestly.

"Oh," X-ray mouthed as his heart fell. The only thing that he was getting out of this whole conversation was that Rogue hated him and she was always going to hate him.

"Jus' act like yourself," Rogue said, shrugging her shoulders again, amazed that she was still talking to this freak. "An' who knows," she added, despite herself, "maybe I'll like the real you."

X-ray looked up excitedly, unable to hold back a grin: So there was hope after all.

Rogue tried to smile reassuringly, but was almost positive that her attempt at being friendly had come out as a grimace. She couldn't believe she had even said a single word to X-ray and now, as she frantically gazed out the windshield praying for an excuse for escape, she was more then thankful to see Zippy galloping back towards the car, Chase in slow pursuit.

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"Doughnuts, Nerds Ropes, KitKats, Peach Rings, Pixie Stix—can you believe it guys? Pixie Stix!" Zippy held the heavy bag up for everyone to see, grinning wildly with her mouth full of Reese's Pieces. "I didn't think I'd get Pixie Stix again till I got home! This is so awesome!"

D-tent was piled back into the police car once more all savoring the boastful supply of snacks that they had purchased at the convenience store. Although Zippy had indeed acquired the tallest pile of purchases, she was followed close in ranks by Armpit, who was currently enjoying a hot dog smothered in tabletop condiments, and then Zigzag who had bought as many convenience store products as his budget had allowed for no apparent reason. Accompanying his bag full of snacks and sweets was a tuna lure, a single roll of toilet paper (Lei had insisted on purchasing the whole package if he wanted to buy any at all but Zigzag had refused, ripped open the plastic encasing the rolls, and had indecisively chosen one that suited his liking before having Zero do the math, and paying the store clerk one sixth of what the entire package had cost), and a pair of prescription glasses—despite the fact that Zigzag had perfect vision. The pride and joy of all his commodities and the item he'd been cradling emphatically since they'd left the gas station was a small lighter he'd bought, the body of which was painted with the symbol of the astrological constellation of Capricorn.

"Oh cool," Static had exclaimed when Zigzag had chosen it—after careful examination—off the lighter rack at the store. "You're a Capricorn?"

"No," Zigzag replied, looking perplexed. "I'm a Sagittarius!"

Static had furrowed her brow in disconcertion but ended up ignoring the fact that her boyfriend was a complete weirdo and ceased to question him on the matter.

"I cannot believe that those freaking morons weren't selling _anything_ low-fat," Magnetic scoffed, sipping daintily on a Diet Coke she'd purchased. "I mean, do they seriously think that anyone these days wants to look like a freakin' bowl of lard? Come on, it's the dieting-era, _hello_!"

Lei, who'd just been about to sink her teeth into a maple bar doughnut, stared in chagrin whereas that rest of the D-tent members just stared in blasé disbelief.

"What?" Magnetic asked, ambushed and astounded that anyone should be so taken aback by her comment. "I'm trying to watch my weight."

"How are you doin' back there, Fidget?" Squid asked from where he sat in the drivers seat, ignoring the present conversation topic and eyeing Fidget in concern through the rear-view mirror.

Fidget, who'd been laying with her limp body against the car door, didn't even bother to look up with her distant eyes as she raised her thumb in the most positive response she could muster.

"Don't worry," Squid said, trying to sound reassuring despite the obvious worry in his voice. "We'll get you into bed soon..."

In the rear-view mirror Chase watched him heave a heavy sigh before narrowing his eyes and concentrating harder on the road ahead. She was amazed at his sudden transition from the rowdy teenage boy she'd first met, months ago when the Camp Lakeway girls had arrived at Camp Green Lake, to a tender and thoughtful guy who could easily pass off as a caring adult. She couldn't believe that she had ever even considered the idea that he would someday leave his child and spouse: The boy she was avidly watching wasn't like that. He wasn't, and would never be, a product of his scoundrel of a father and his drunk mother, no matter how many statistics proved otherwise.

"Chase? You okay?" Zippy asked, accidentally spraying Chase's face with excess Pixie Stix dust as she spoke. "You look like you're gonna cry..."

"But she's smiling," Zero contradicted, grinning as he joined into the miniscule conversation that had erupted between his girlfriend and her best friend. "See, look at that goofy grin," he said, pointing impertinently at Chase's dazed expression.

"I'm okay," Chase tried to reassure them, but her words were cut short as Zippy adjusted her attention to solely address Zero.

"Smiling? What are you talking about? She's crying, not smiling. See, look at all those tears in her eyes."

"Yeah," Zero replied, focusing his attention away from Chase as well. "But she could be crying and smiling at the same time."

"Ooh," Zippy uttered, narrowing her eyes. "That's a good one... Perhaps she's constipated?"

"Perhaps," Zero responded, laughing.

"Here, I'll check," Zippy declared brusquely. Then, propping herself up on her knees from where she sat on the floor of the car, she eyed Chase suspiciously, prodded her in the shoulder, and inquired, "Are you constipated?"

"No!" Chase cried in incredulity, scoffing at the idea of such kindergarten humor.

"Yeah," Zippy confirmed, recoiling back to her position on the floor and approaching Zero once again. "She's constipated."

Chase rolled her eyes and sat back in the seat, directing her attention to the miscellaneous objects flying past the car window.

"_Ahem_," X-ray cleared his throat loudly from the front seat before going on in an equally loud voice. "What do you all say about some music? Sounds good? Yeah? Okay."

Rogue watched in utter mortification as X-ray proceeded to surf through the pathetic amount of radio stations that the desert area they were driving through received before he paused at a station that played nothing but "The great oldies!".

"Oh wow," X-ray exclaimed. "Smokey Robinson? Now this is the good stuff, I'm tellin' ya'."

Now Rogue wasn't the only one who was staring in horror at X-ray's sudden change in personality. Squid completely forgot that he was driving the car for a moment and stared dumbstruck at his wise tent leader. He'd never, not once in all the months he'd known X-ray seen him act even remotely interested in music from the sixties and it completely shocked him to see his good buddy acting so now. In fact, the only member of D-tent who didn't seem disturbed by X-ray's actions was Zippy who'd cried, "YES!" the moment X-ray had stopped at the oldies radio station and had broken into another mad round of the chicken dance.

"_She's not a bad girl, because_-" X-ray sang along with the tune flooding through the radio speakers, exhibiting more strange actions that the other members of D-tent had never witnessed before.

"Oh Christ!" Rogue laughed, shaking her head in discredit as she realized that X-ray was trying to act like himself to attract her. She wondered vaguely what ridiculous stunt he would try and pull next. "You're doin' fine, X-ray," she said, smirking. "Keep up the great work."

X-ray, confused at Rogue's remark, let his voice die down until his mimicking mumble ended and he sat quietly, leaving an awkward silence to fill the car, the music from the radio inconveniently tinkering in the background.

"HEY LOOK!" Twitch cried suddenly, making Chase, who was sitting beside him, jump in shock. He was pointing ecstatically out the window that Chase had been gazing through a moment before, bouncing in his seat as he directed everyone's attention towards a small, roadside reminder.

As everyone read the sign, it became quite obvious what had startled Twitch into a fervor.

LUBBOCK 184 MILES

The contempt silence that still filled the vehicle was almost indefinite.

They were almost home.


	58. Apologies From A Hackneyed Fool

I want to take this moment to apologize for a couple things.

First off, I'm sorry for posting this "apology note" here in my story and making it look as though I've finally updated (after a year or so). Believe me, if I were you I'd want to rip dear old Munkymuppet's throat out as well.

Next, I feel the need to apologize for my desperately long delay. Whenever I'm reading a book I absolutely hate those stand-still cliff hangers that leave you anxious for more so I know it must be terrible to be stuck with a year long cliff hanger. Rest assured, however, that during that whole year I've been working my butt off on this unnecessarily long story (and I've got the carpal tunnels syndrome to prove it!). The issue is, simply put, that writing an ending to a fan fic that I started three years ago is a _very_ difficult task to accomplish. I don't want to say good-bye to these characters any more than little kids want to say good-bye to the delusion of Saint Nick. I mean, sure, I could write a sequel (just like Louis Sachar wrote Armpit's follow-up), but the idea of a sequel to Camp Lakeway (my obsessive tribute to Holes) seems a bit ridiculous. After all, my characters live in separate areas of Texas and it'd be slightly difficult to keep a tab on _all _of them throughout a whole novel. And although it'd be easy to accomplish, I'm not sure I really want to forget about all these characters and focus on a whole new group of Green Lake delinquents in another book.

Despite my disapproval of a sequel I have begun a prequel to Camp Lakeway so that the Lakeway girls' history becomes a bit clearer. The story begins with Rogue's arrival at Camp Lakeway and primarily focuses on the girls' stay at the juvenile correctional facility before their Warden dies and they're shipped off to Camp Green Lake. I do plan on posting this as it will allow everyone to get to know the D-tent characters a little bit better, but I can't promise when it'll show up on this site.

Because... you know... I'm undependable like that.

Yeah, I suppose that's another thing I need to add to my list of apologies.

Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone for the support they've given me throughout these three years of work and I really hope that once I _am_ ready to kiss these characters good-bye and post the final chapters of my "masterpiece" (yeah right) you enjoy the end of Camp Lakeway.

Ciao!

E.A.M


End file.
